Unforgiven
by fmfan1980
Summary: Just a crazy alternate universe version of what would happen if Sasuke wanted Sakura to do something horrible before leaving Konoha. Something that he knew would shatter their bonds. Had this screwed up story in my head for awhile. So well, here it is. **13/04/20: Major editing to Ch 05. My thanks to reader 'Hatred' for pointing out some mistakes.**
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and its associated works do not belong to me. I'm just playing in the sandbox created by Masashi Kishimoto.

" _Inner Voice speech"_

"Normal speech"

'Character thoughts'

* * *

 ****Possible 'M' rated events in this Chapter****

* * *

 **Konoha.**

"If you were to stay with me, there would be no regrets!" Sasuke rolled his hands into fists while hearing the cry from Sakura a few steps behind him. This was the way out of the village, and of all the people, he had to run into her. The 'her' being Haruno Sakura – the girl who told him, in a sad tone, that she knew he would have to take this particular paved path to leave the village. Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the girl crying, her eyes were closed as she continued to cry out with her hands clasped together just above her chest, "Because every day we'd do something fun, we would have no regrets..!"

Sasuke locked his jaw and glared at the pink haired girl. A part of him was asking if Sakura even realized what she was saying.

"I would do anything for you!" she cried out opening her eyes… eyes which were now puffy and red in colour as tears flowed down her cheeks. Sasuke watched the tears reach the bottom of her cheeks, and then drip down to the pavement. He looked down at the pavement and could make out the spots where the tears landed before he looked back up at Sakura. Her shoulders were trembling, her body was shaking – a part of Sasuke felt sorry for the girl begging him to stay.

'This village cannot help me attain the power I need,' he thought to himself while staring at the crying Sakura, the two of them facing each other with several steps between them, 'you cannot help me, Naruto cannot help me, Kakashi cannot help me. No one can help me gain the power I need to kill Itachi.'

"Go home, Sakura," Sasuke growled before his body started to shift to the left… he was about to turn his back to her when what she said next stopped him. And he turned back to her with eyes narrowed, glaring at the girl.

"I'll even help you with your revenge!"

Sasuke took a step forward while Sakura leaned forward and cried out, "I don't know what I could do… but I'll try my best to do something! So just stay with me! Or.. or take me with you if you can't stay here! At least take me with you."

Sasuke couldn't believe the gall of the girl in front of him. He had always known about the girls who would chase him in the academy… he always knew they were enamoured with his last name, with the fantasy of being with who they assumed to be a mysterious boy; 'the last Uchiha,' Sasuke mentally scoffed as he stared at Sakura.

The girl in front of him thought she loved him, thought that she deserved him. But Sasuke knew that Sakura didn't know loss. She didn't now pain. He knew that she was just like the rest of the girls who fantasied about being with him, that she had known no pain her whole life. Not like himself.

'And…' Sasuke thought, his eyes looking away from Sakura's watery orbs. His thoughts went to the very boy he knew shared the same pain he did. The same loneliness that came with having no family to speak of, 'and you know nothing about Naruto.' Sasuke felt that he was building bonds with the yellow haired idiot, even the fight on the roof of the hospital was something that built up bonds between them. He had seen how powerful Naruto was becoming after Kakashi interfered and Sasuke jumped away, which was when the dark haired Uchiha saw the rear of the second water tank destroyed by the unknown Jutsu that Naruto had used.

'Then there's the Kage Bunshin,' Sasuke thought as he recalled the battled against Gaara, 'and then the gigantic toad.' Sasuke gritted his teeth at the sound of Sakura crying while wondering how much more powerful and stronger Naruto could get as time went on. Sasuke knew that if he wanted to get stronger than Naruto, he would have to leave… he would have to accept the power being offered to him by Orochimaru.

'I even have a bond with you, Sakura,' Sasuke thought to himself as he locked eyes with the pink haired kunoichi, 'but to get the power I want, I know I can't have any distractions. I can't have anyone coming between me and my revenge. And that's why I have to leave… the two of you are my bonds to this place. The two of you are my distractions.'

"Please, stay," Sakura begged wiping her eyes, "Sasuke-Kun, please…"

"After I leave, I'm not coming back to the village," Sasuke said as an idea came into his head. It was something that he was apprehensive about, but it was something that would shatter the bonds between him, Sakura and Naruto. It was something that he knew that would have to be done eventually… he knew that once it was discovered that he was missing, that the Hokage would send a team to chase after him. And retrieve him.

He knew in his heart that Naruto would be one of the people, and possibly the girl standing in front of him if she nagged the Hokage enough.

'If I know Naruto, he would probably beg the Hokage to let Sakura join the retrieval team,' Sasuke thought to himself as Sakura wordlessly stared at him, with a devastated expression on her face. 'Sakura and Naruto – two bonds that need to be shattered. Two distractions that need to be wiped off the board and then… then then.. then… no matter how long it takes to gain power, I will kill Itachi.'

"Do you really want to come with me?" Sasuke asked as Sakura closed her eyes, her body stopped trembling, and then she stood straight. After Sakura opened her eyes once again, Sasuke saw conviction in those green orbs staring back at him, 'let's see how far you're willing to go'. Sasuke stepped forward, "you have to leave your family."

Sakura nodded her head. Sasuke tilted his head and smirked, "you have to leave Konoha forever. You think you can do that?"

"If I'm by your side then… then yes," Sakura answered. But Sasuke heard the hesitation in her voice.

"You're not ready to leave…"

"I am," Sakura said as she stepped forward, "Sasuke-kun, I swear I'll be by your side. I'll help you… I'll support you. No matter what happens."

'Sakura,' Sasuke thought shaking his head while looking away from her, 'you are a fool.'

"They'll send shinobi after us," Sasuke said looking back at her, "and you know Naruto will be bugging the Hokage to come along. We may have to fight him and…"

"I.. I'll support you, Sasuke," Sakura said.

And Sasuke could see her bottom lip trembling.

"Will you fight Naruto with me?" Sasuke asked as he took another two steps forward, "are you willing to…"

"Yes," Sakura said before Sasuke could ask if she was willing to break her bonds with everyone she knew in Konoha. Sasuke stared into Sakura's eyes and then looked away, 'you stupid fool of a girl. You stupid… stupid.. stupid…' Sasuke was in disbelief that Sakura could even entertain the thought of leaving the village with him. He had no feelings for her… he couldn't have any feelings for her since everything he was, and could be, was focused on getting power to destroy his older brother.

That was the only thing that mattered.

'I'm sorry, Sakura,' Sasuke thought looking back up into her eyes, 'I can't let you come with me. I need you for something else though… a distraction. You wanted to help… so you'll help me break my bonds with yourself and Naruto. I hope that… that if you don't do what I ask you to do… that you would quit being a Shinobi.' Sasuke stared at Sakura's face while her hands reached out for his own, 'if you do what I ask… then you'll be out of the Shinobi corp either way.'

"If you are willing to go with me," Sasuke said as Sakura held his hand. The dark-haired boy was doing everything to keep himself calm. He felt Sakura gently squeeze both his hands – and he didn't pull back. 'If she says no, then I'll knock her out and lay her on the bench. If she says yes…' Sasuke sighed before continuing to speak, "then we have to break our bonds with that idiot."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, "why…"

Sasuke nodded his head, "like I said, you know that Naruto will bug the Hokage for a place in the retrieval team." Sakura nodded her head before Sasuke continued, "and I told you we need to cut bonds with anyone that would distract us. Which includes Naruto, and even your parents. Are you willing to forgo those bonds?"

"Yes," Sakura said.

"Are you willing to kill?" Sasuke asked a Sakura opened her eyes wide at him. "Well?" he asked a few seconds later.

"You.. you.. you want to kill…."

"I was already planning on leaving, Sakura," Sasuke said nodding his head towards the wall in the distance behind him, "once I get the power that I want, I can easily get my revenge on Itachi, and then fight anyone who tries to drag me back to the village. Including Naruto. You are the one who said you wanted to come with me… to support me. You are the one who said you loved me… so, the question is… what are you willing to do to follow me?"

"I…."

"If you want to come with me, you and I will fight Konoha shinobi," Sasuke said shrugging, "we will be missing-nin. And so, if we are to continue in my quest for power... then the both of us have to kill Konoha shinobi. Are you prepared to do that?"

"I… I…" Sakura released Sasuke's hand and took a step back, a look of pain on her face, "you… you're asking me to…"

"You don't have to kill your parents," Sasuke said, "they are not a threat. But Naruto? He has the potential to become a threat to my quest. And if you want to come with me then… then I want you to kill him."

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered, her voice trembling as Sasuke reached for the backpack he was carrying, his hand fishing for something, "I…." Sakura's eyes went wide when Sasuke handed her a kunai.

"That dope is already asleep," Sasuke said taking a step towards the kunoichi with the handle of the weapon pointed at her, "all you have to do is sneak into his apartment, and then…" Sasuke used his free hand to imitate a slash on the left side of his neck, "cut his jugular vein. He'll be in pain for a few seconds before his body goes numb."

"I…."

"This is your first assignment in my quest for power, Sakura," Sasuke said holding out the kunai towards the pinkette, "an assignment that involves the death of a future threat to me and you." Sasuke then sighed, "if you want to come with me, then these are the types of decisions you'll face. What do you want to do, Sakura?" Sasuke asked her if she wanted to stay in Konoha or join him in his quest for ultimate power.

Sasuke thought that she would say no.

He hoped that she would say no. This was his quest, and his alone. It was his vengeance. He needed to cut bonds with the two friends he made in Konoha. He knew that if Sakura said no, then him knocking her out and leaving would signify their broken bonds. He would then defeat Naruto at a later time, breaking that bond when the latter came after him, 'as I know he will.'

And if Sakura said yes, if she attempted to kill Naruto… then Sasuke hoped that act would break her out of her fantasy. And thus, break their bond. Whether Naruto survived or not, Sasuke was sure that the act of Sakura trying to kill him under his order would break the bonds he created with the blonde idiot.

Either way, Sasuke would be on his way to the Sound Four – the group who would then take him to Orochimaru.

Sasuke's heart raced. He was doing everything to keep an air of indifference around him He didn't want to show Sakura that he was stunned at her decision.

"Give me the kunai, Sasuke-Kun," Sakura said with what he sensed was a hint of sorrow laced in her voice, "I… I'll meet you here?"

"Ten minutes, Sakura," Sasuke said before the pink haired kunoichi turned and rushed towards the village, "I'll be here waiting for you." He saw her wave at him before turning a corner and disappearing from her sight. Not wanting to wait, Sasuke starting walking the other way before he dashed off towards one of the village exits where the Sound Four was due to meet him.

'You foolish girl,' Sasuke thought to himself as he ran, 'you foolish, foolish girl.'

* * *

" _What do you think you're doing?!"_ Sakura could hear her Inner Voice calling out to her from the back of her mind, _"Damn it, Sakura. Think! Just think about what Sasuke-kun is asking you to do!"_

'He wants to know that I'll support him, that I'll help him, that I'll be by his side,' Sakura, the part of her conscious mind, thought as she jumped up and landed on a rooftop before taking off running once again to the poorer part of Konoha, 'we love him… we love Sasuke and that's why…'

" _That's why we're going to murder our teammate?"_ the Inner Voice screamed out as Sakura continued to hop over, and then run on various roofs. " _Think about what Sasuke wants you to do… Sakura! This is our teammate we're talking about!"_

'This is what we wanted!' Sakura thought to herself while she eyes on of the taller buildings in the distance, the one with a long balcony that hung over the edge of the building, 'a chance to be with Sasuke-kun. A chance to be with…'

" _Sakura,"_ the Inner Voice calmly called out – Sakura was surprised really, usually her Inner Voice was outgoing and boisterous, her Inner Voice was always pushing her to do what should be done. But now, it was being calm while she was being excited. Sakura could feel her heart racing as her mind went right to thinking about jumping from tree to tree – from branch to branch - as the two of them left Konoha together so that she could help him reach for the power he sought. However, the Inner Voice screamed in her head, _"SAKURA!"_

'What!'

" _Remember the Land of Waves mission, remember everything that happened after that, remember how Naruto started getting closer to us and Sasuke, remember how we cheered him on for Chuunin exams, remember how he risked his life to save us and Sasuke."_

Sakura stopped and then crouched down as tears well up in her eyes. She remembered all those incidents, and more.

" _You feel that, don't you?" the Inner Voice said, "you remember how the three of us connected… the bond we started to form as Team Seven. A bond we've been building since then, and one that Sasuke-kun is threatening to crack. And one that you will shatter if you do this. We need to go to Tsunade-sama. We can stop Sasuke-Kun right here and now. We can still have him… he can still be the One for us. We can keep him in Konoha."_

Sakura covered her eyes with her arms as she cried on the roof top that was only about a kilometre away from Naruto's apartment, _"let's go to the Hokage. Let's…"_

"I love him," Sakura whispered through her hiccups.

" _We love him,"_ the Inner Voice agreed _, "but… but…"_

'And… and if I have to… to kill….'

" _Sakura, stop."_

'To… to protect Sasuke-kun…'

" _Damn it, Sakura. Stop!"_

'I will help him however I can,' Sakura thought to herself as she, using her exceptional chakra control and remembering what she was thought at the academy, lowered her chakra signature. And then she made for Naruto's home. All the while, her Inner Voice screamed at her to stop.

'THIS IS WHAT WE WANT!' Sakura mentally yelled at her Inner self, 'WE LOVE SASUKE-KUN AND WOULD DO ANYTHING TO….'

" _NOT LIKE THIS!"_ the Inner Voice screamed as Sakura landed on the balcony and then crouched low before making it towards the door. " _Sakura, we can't do this. Please… don't…"_

'You're the one supposed to be pushing me,' Sakura thought to herself while she grabbed the door-knob with her bare hand. She honestly didn't care if the Investigation Unit collected her fingerprints or not from the door knob, by the time anyone knew something was wrong.. she and Sasuke would be long gone.

" _Not in this,"_ the Inner Voice said as Sakura slowly opened the door after, with surprise showing on her face, discovering that the door was unlocked. " _Please, we can't do this. Not for anyone. Not even for him."_

Sakura ignored her Inner Voice as she closed the door to the balcony behind her while she crept into the dark room. With only the moonlight providing any form of light, Sakura carefully avoided the mess in what she thought was the kitchen. There were dishes everywhere, together with clothes piled up all over the place and several ramen cups on the floor and dining table.

" _You know what… change your mind about what you're about to do and instead help this idiot."_ Sakura stopped and looked around, " _I mean I know this is supposed to be a bachelor pad but still… come on… the poor guy lives in a sty."_

'Don't make this harder than it already is,' Sakura thought as she crept towards another door with the living room in front of her, 'this is already…'

" _I'm you, remember?"_ the Inner Voice screech out, _"you didn't even hesitate once. I know we don't love Naruto. But he's still our friend. He's our teammate, what you…"_

Sakura stared at the door while ignoring her inner voice. She could already hear soft snoring from the other side her heart raced. Naruto was starting to grow on her. She started seeing her as a friend, and she knew that he had a crush on her ever since they were children.

" _Even before you knew Sasuke, you knew Naruto."_

'I knew of him,' Sakura mentally clarified as she slowly, while crouched, turned the knob, and slowly opened the door and peeked through into the dark room. She could make out Naruto sleeping, and snoring, on the bed with his penguin hat on his head. Sakura's lower lip trembled as she saw Naruto in his Pyjama's, the boy was sleeping peacefully. She slowly crept closer and noticed that his bandages were taken off… all the injuries he received were healed.

" _You know, he actually looks kind of cute… in a non-Sasuke way."_

'We love Sasuke,' Sakura mentally reminded her Inner Voice as she stared at Naruto's sleeping form.

" _What he's making you do…"_

'It's my choice,' Sakura mentally chided her Inner Voice, 'he didn't make me…'

Sakura's eyes locked on Naruto once she heard the boy give off a snort. She rushed to the foot of his bed, crouched down, and hid, all the while listening for movements that indicated he was getting off the bed. But there were no other sounds. Sakura, still crouched, crept towards the head of the bed while slowly taking out the kunai given to her by Sasuke. She looked up at the bedside clock and thought, 'five more minutes.' It was then she saw the picture of Team Seven, their first picture together after the Bell Test… after they officially became Genin. She looked at her smiling self, and the at Sasuke who was aloof as he closed his eyes and turned towards the left. Seeing his picture emboldened Sakura even more, and then she looked at Naruto's picture. He was side-eying Sasuke while his arms were crossed over his chest. Sakura's hand gripped the handle of the Kunai tight as a fleeting moment of hesitation took over her body as she stared at Naruto's picture. Sakura closed her eyes tight, the picture was burned in her mind as her face twisted in grief at the thought of what she was about to do. Tears in her eyes, Sakura opened her eyes ad looked away from the picture before she turned her head to stare at Naruto's sleeping face.

Sakura stared at his blonde hair, then at his nose, and then at the whisker marks on his cheeks, and then she looked back up at his closed eyelids. She looked back at the picture – specifically Naruto's picture and noticed his eyes.

" _He has the deepest blue eyes we've ever seen, Sakura,"_ her Inner Voice said before pleading, " _don't… please. I know… I know you're hesitating, Sakura. You know… you know deep in your heart… our heart… that this is wrong."_

With the clouds floating in the night sky starting to block the light from the moon, Sakura stood up, her body trembling at the thought of what she was about to do.

'I'll be with Sasuke,' Sakura thought to herself as she took a deep breath before she pushed the kunai downwards. What happened next would haunt Sakura until the day she died – the kunai cut through the air as she swung the razor sharp blade downward through the left side of Naruto's neck; Sakura had tears in her eyes when Naruto snapped open his eyes once the blade cut his skin… and his eyes widened even more when she used very ounce of strength she had to continue pushing the kunai's blade up through the side of his neck before blood gushed out and spattered onto the window to the right that looked out towards the Hokage monument in the distance. Their eyes locked and Sakura thought she saw a mixture of emotions… including betrayal and heartbreak… in those eyes. Sakura then grabbed Naruto's hair with her left hand before she slashed the razor sharp blade using whatever strength she could muster towards her left side using her right arm. She heard muscle and flesh tear, bones crack, as she slashed the kunai towards her left side.

In only a few seconds, there was a deep gash that travelled from just under Naruto's left ear to the middle of his throat.

And there was so much blood.

Blood was everywhere. Blood mixed with Sakura's tears as she pulled the kunai out and stumbled back, her hand shook holding the blood covered kunai while her fingers – red with fresh blood – tightened around the handle. She fell back onto the floor while she watched Naruto's mouth open and close repeatedly as his arms waved uncontrollably as if still trying to fend off his attacker. His body continued trembling for several seconds as blood spilt out of his ripped neck. As the clouds slowly made their way across the moon, the light now shining back down on Naruto, Sakura saw his body stop moving.

And then she ran while putting the kunai back into her its holster. She ran through the kitchen… her heart racing as she raced past the table and the ramen. She ran through the kitchen door and onto the balcony that overlooked Konoha. And she took off – tears streamed down her cheeks at the thought of what she had just done.

" _What have we done, Sakura?!"_ her Inner Voice screamed. Sakura could feel a pain in her heart as she rushed towards where Sasuke would be waiting for her.

She felt a stab in her chest. Sakura felt herself being ripped apart as she leaped from one rooftop to another. She still smelled the stench of iron and looked down towards her hands as she rushed towards her rendezvous with destiny- her right hand was covered in blood, the spatter reached her arm, her chest, and now she felt wetness on her cheeks.

'No more crying,' Sakura mentally told herself as more tears flowed, 'Sasuke wants me to be strong. I am strong. I have to show him that despite breaking our bonds with Naruto, I can be useful to him. I will show him that I love him. I will show him that I can help him become strong. I will be by his side... I will be by his side.'

But Sakura couldn't see past the look of abject heartbreak in Naruto's eyes when their eyes locked with each other. That sight couldn't leave her mind no matter how much she tried. She saw, at that one moment, his heart shatter.

" _How else is he supposed to feel when the person he has a crush on just killed him!"_

'It was dark… he didn't see me,' Sakura thought while her Inner Voice called her an idiot, 'he didn't see me. If he did… if he did he would have called out… he would have reached for me and…"

" _WE MURDERED HIM!"_

Sakura didn't say or think anything else. Shaking her head, all she knew was that she needed to leave with Sasuke. That once she was with him, then everything else would fall into place. The both of them would protect each other, the both of them would become powerful.

" _Was Naruto's sacrifice worth it?"_ the Inner Voice scoffed before clarifying _, "not sacrifice, sorry. Was his MURDER worth it? Well, Sakura?"_

Sakura didn't answer. She felt her heart shattering at the sight of Naruto's eyes looking back at her. Not only were they showing her his heartbreak, but also asking the question "Why?" She could still hear Naruto asking the question in her thoughts, despite Sakura being confident that it only appeared as if Naruto could see her. Sakura was sure the darkness in the room covered her… she was confident that he couldn't see her. But that didn't stop the thoughts that were now running in her mind.

"Why, Sakura-chan? Why?" Naruto was on his knees, tears streaming down from his eyes and cheeks while snot dripped from his nose as he looked up at her… blood flowing out of the gash on his neck, "why?"

'I… I want to be with Sasuke, Naruto,' Sakura thought as she stared at the broken Naruto in her mind's eye. He started to sob while he covered his eyes with his right arm and shook his head. 'I… had to do…'

Sakura stopped thinking. In her minds eye, she turned away from Naruto. She turned her back to him, and walked away with welled up tears in her eyes… tears that fell down her cheeks as she shut a mental door – shutting away the sobs from Naruto.

A few minutes later, Sakura reached the pavement where she expected Sasuke to wait for her. She ran covered in blood to the bench under the tree. She expected him there… she expected him to be waiting for her. She expected that the two of them would run towards their shared future.

But Sasuke wasn't waiting for her. She stared at an empty space where Sasuke once stood.

And now he was gone.

" _What will we do now, Sakura,"_ the Inner Voice asked as Sakura fell to her knees while staring out into the distance. She fell down on her knees, her arms hanging limply as her mind tried to process everything that happened.

Sakura knew Sasuke was going to take this path if he intended to leave.

Sakura professed her love to prevent Sasuke from leaving and even told him that she loved him and would leave with him.

Sakura pleaded with Sasuke not to leave. She told him that she'd go with him.

Sakura then remembered Sasuke talking about bonds, but the details were lost to her as she remembered the look in Naruto's eyes.

Sakura then remembered Sasuke telling her to kill Naruto – shatter their bonds. She remembered that they would leave after the deed was done. That they would be together.

Sakura remembered shoving the kunai through the left side of Naruto's neck and the twisting the weapon upwards. She then looked down at her trembling arms... the right-side covered in blood.

'Naruto,' Sakura thought as she brought her hands to the sides of her head while her eyes widened. Her chest was throbbing in pain while she felt the wetness from the blood as her hands rubbed her face… now the right side of Sakura's face was covered in blood which streaked downwards thanks to the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

"Naruto," she whispered gasping out his name.

"Naruto," she whispered again as she shook her head.

"Naruto," she whispered again, her voice cracking.

"Naruto," her voice broke as she sobbed, leaning forward and placed her hands on the pavement.

Sakura's body was wracked with sobs before she screamed out in anguish and forced her body up to her feet. Sakura, her face covered in blood while tears continued to gush from her eyes, turned around and rushed back into the village. She rushed towards Naruto's apartment while whispering, "Naruto. Naruto. Naruto. What have I done? What have I done?" She repeated Naruto's name over and over again. Upon reaching the balcony, Sakura slammed through the door and rushed into the dark kitchen.

'You've always pushed yourself, Naruto! You can't… you can't die. You can't…!'

She could already smell the stench of iron on the entire apartment as she rushed into Naruto's room and turned on the lights. She covered her mouth with her hands and sobbed at the sight of the lifeless body lying on the bed.

'What have I done?!'

" _Sakura, we need… oh God, Sakura we need to leave!"_

Sakura was shaking her head as she stared at the body on the bed. Thanks to the light in Naruto's bedroom, Sakura could see the blood continuing to drip down the bed to the floor. Sakura crept closer to the body, her feet stopping at the edge of the pool of blood which was shining red thanks to the overhead light. Sakura had tears going down her face while staring at the dull eyes that used to be bright blue staring back at her, the gash from the left side of the neck to just under what used to be Naruto's chin forcing a gag from Sakura.

" _This is what you did, Sakura,"_ the Inner Voice said as Sakura shook her head, continued to sob, and then leaned back against the wall next to the door, " _this is what we did. He's dead. No one could survive this_." Sakura felt herself slipping down until she was sitting on the floor She pulled her knees closer and hugged them tight while staring at Naruto's body through wet eyes.

"What have I done?" Sakura whispered as she stared at Naruto, "What have I done?"

" _We need to leave, Sakura,"_ the Inner Voice repeated _._

"What… what do I…"

" _Sakura,"_ The Inner Voice gently said, " _Naruto… Naruto's dead. We need to leave. We can't stay in this room… we can't stay here. We…"_

"What have I done?" Sakura whispered as she looked down at her hands. The left hand was covered in blood, and the right hand - the one that she used to grab Naruto's hair so that the body didn't fall to the floor when she slashed the left side of his neck open – was clean. 'What have I done? What have I done for… oh God… what have I done for… for…' Sakura's eyes opened wide before her face twisted in anguish at the thought of what she had done for her love.

" _Sakura, we can discuss this later,"_ said her Inner Voice, cracking with emotion _, "we need to leave now. We're… we're emotional but we need to get out of here._

"Call…. Call Tsunade-sama… I need to call…," Sakura was trying to get up to her feet by using the wall behind her as leverage while mumbling to herself, "I have to… she has to… to take Naruto and… I need to call…"

" _Sakura,"_ the Inner Voice spoke, _"you make a call now, there will be a lot of questions. We need to get out of here and… and we need to go home. We have the Kunai with us, then we need to wipe the fingerprints off the door knob. And then we go home. We… we wait for tomorrow. We…"_

'I… I killed him,' Sakura thought while she stared at Naruto, 'I…'

" _You killed him for Sasuke!"_ the Inner Voice raged in the back of her mind causing Sakura to physically wince while she leaned her left shoulder against the wall. _"Damn it, Sakura… you killed Naruto for Sasuke. And now, not only did he leave the village, but he got you to kill Naruto… and I can't…"_

'Tsunade-sama will bring him back… she can gather a search party for Sasuke-kun and…'

" _Forget about Sasuke for now!"_ the Inner Voice yelled out.

'What have I done?' Sakura turned her head towards Naruto with a look of anguish, 'what have I done. I need to call… Tsunade-sama… I need to call Tsunade-sama. I can't leave him like this…'

" _Sakura."_

'I CAN'T LEAVE HIM LIKE THIS!' Sakura mentally yelled at her Inner Self.

" _THEN WHY DID YOU KILL HIM!?"_ the Inner Voice raged before Sakura sobbed once again.

" _And how are you going to explain the blood on us?"_ the Inner Voice continued, this time gently _, "how are we going to explain Naruto's dead body and the both of us being in the same room… hell, how will we explain being in the same apartment? How are we… how are we supposed to tell Tsunade-sama that we suspected Sasuke was going to leave the village and… do you really think anyone would believe that we fought off Sasuke? Or that -"_

Sakura glanced back at Naruto again. She knew that her Inner Self was correct – that if Tsunade and others were called, then there would be many questions asked. As her Inner Voice continue talking, Sakura agreed that, at the very least, someone from the Imanaka clan would be called in to verify her story. And there was no way she could combat their mind control jutsu's. they would know the truth – that Haruno Sakura was a murderer, that she was trash. No, she thought to herself, they would know that she was lower than trash.

Following her Inner Voice's instructions, Sakura, already feeling as if her body had gone numb while she looked as if she was in a daze, walked out of the room and then into the kitchen, and then onto the balcony. She wiped the door knob with her dress before she leaped off and dashed home. Her Inner Voice had told her that, so as not to get the Imanaka Clan involved, Sakura would have to let Naruto's body be found.

" _We have training tomorrow,"_ the Inner Voice had said while Sakura was leaping over rooftops in a daze _, "you know Kakashi-sensei will be late. We'll wait for him and… and… and then when he finally meets up with us, we'll say that we haven't seen Sasuke or Naruto. That way, one of us can 'find' Naruto's body and the other can discover that Sasuke-kun's gone. This is the only way we survive, Sakura. In the meantime, you act the part of the Kunoichi who lost everything. That's all we can do for now and… and hope that where ever Naruto is now, he can forgive us."_

'You mean me,' Sakura thought to herself as she wiped her eyes while dashing over one rooftop to another, 'we hope he can forgive me.'

" _Yes."_

As Sakura was moving further away from Naruto's apartment, there was a reddish glow from his abdomen under his blood-soaked pyjama's. The glow illuminated the edges of the seal placed there by the Yondaime so many years ago. After some time, the glow faded to the black coloured seal that held the Kyuubi inside Naruto. A few seconds later, the seal simply evaporated off his skin and into the air.

A few seconds later, beneath his pyjama's, there were two faint glowing masses of light under his skin where the seal used to be. The masses, one glowing a faint yellow and the other a faint red, vanished a few seconds after reaching his heart and brain.

However, Naruto still remained lifeless as he lay on his bed alone. That's were he would continue to remained as the sun started to rise over the distant horizon.

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Warning for slight OOC.

 **Tsunade's Office, 0250 hours.**

It was raining heavily in many places throughout the Land of Fire. Lightning flashed across the dark grey clouds gathered in the sky over Konoha, soon followed by thunder that shook several buildings around the entire village. It was a surprise to many – this rain. There was no forecast for rain, much less a storm of this magnitude. Tsunade snapped her eyes open as bullets of waters spattered against the windows around her office in the Hokage Tower. She had been passed out tipsy with piles and piles of papers and scrolls all around her with a sake bottle to her left. She lifted her head back up and then leaned back on her high-backed chair. Swivelling around, she stared at the lightning arching through and across the clouds, the flashes of light blue and white illuminating the water raining down on her village.

'There was no forecast for a storm,' Tsunade thought to herself as she stood up off her chair, her body covered in her low-cut grey blouse and trousers while her bright green overcoat hung off the rear of her chair. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned – she heard her body cracking in various areas before she lowered her arms and looked out the windows.

There was a feeling in her gut that she couldn't shake off. A feeling of emptiness that she would later ascribe to her loneliness as being the last Senju. She then turned back towards her desk and eyed the bottle of sake. Sighing, Tsunade rolled her shoulders as she walked past her table and towards the door.

She was going home for some sleep; hopefully that would help push the emptiness away.

 **Sakura's Room, 0300 hours.**

Sakura couldn't sleep. She couldn't even lie back on her bed. Instead, she was sitting down cross-legged on her bed, her body facing her closet while her head was turned slightly to her right as she remained staring out the window at the rain pouring down from the heavens.

" _It's like the sky's crying huh, Sakura,"_ her Inner Voice said softly in the back of the pink haired Kunoichi's mind. Sakura closed her eyes tight and placed her hands over her ears at the flash of light, and then at the accompanying thunder, _"it's just as if someone up there knows we killed…"_

'Please stop!' Sakura mentally cried out in anguish. Opening her eyes ones again, Sakura felt the tears stream down her cheeks. The same tears that had been falling non-stop ever since she finished her third shower. She looked down at her right hand – even though she scrubbed the blood off her arm, hands, and from under her fingernail's multiple times during each shower – she could still see it covered in blood.

Naruto's blood. The blood of her teammate. The blood of a friend. The blood of a boy who had been declaring his love for her ever since they first met.

And Sakura killed him because of her love for Sasuke. A love that had her desire leaving the village with him. A love that had her follow his request to kill Naruto, to shred the bonds they shared, before wanting to leave with him for parts unknown. Sakura knew that she wanted to be with the last Uchiha. She had known in her heart that he was the One.

" _And now where is he for us? Where is he, Sakura?"_ the Inner Voice asked _, "were we wrong all this time? Were we…"_

'Shut up!' Sakura mentally yelled while her impassive tear streaked face looked out the window and at the flashes of lightning. She loved Sasuke. She knew she loved Sasuke. She looked back down at her hands once again, and saw bright red blood covering her left hand, 'I love him… I love him… I…'

"Heh!"

Sakura's eyes opened wide at hearing the familiar voice whisper in her left ear.

"You LOVE him?" the voice whispered as Sakura, her body trembling, her eye wide open in fear, turned her head slowly to her left. And then she found herself staring into pale blue eyes and a sneer.

"Na… Naru…"

"Oh, come on, Sakura-chan," Sakura closed her eyes and shook her head upon hearing the honorific being spoken with such disgust. She started to sob, opening her eyes at the pale blue eyes staring back, "I think you forfeited the right to even say my name, don't you think?"

" _Sakura, that's not Naruto… listen to me… that's not, Naruto!"_ the Inner Voice said while all Sakura could do was stare at Naruto; her eyes red and puffy from crying. She was finding it hard to say anything since every time she tried talking, she would hiccup a sob instead of speaking words.

"How about just calling me The Body, or the dead man, or…"

"Na… Naru… Naruto," Sakura managed to speak before sobbing again. "Please… please… I.. I am…"

"That was kind of smart, you know," Naruto said, his arms folded across his chest, as he stepped back. Sakura stared at him with tears still streaming down her face, "hiding the Kunai like that." Sakura closed her eyes and looked away from Naruto. She knew what he was talking about – with several areas of the village still under construction thanks to the great damage caused by the Sand-Sound invasion during the Chuunin Exams, it was relatively easy to find a place that was still being reconstructed. Sakura recalled being in a daze when it happened, it was as if her body was not her own… that she wasn't in control. She remembered changing directions when she was almost home following her return to Naruto's apartment after Sasuke was gone.

She saw several buildings that were still undergoing construction. So, she hid the kunai and its holster in a section of pavement near one of the buildings. The patch of pavement was covered by a tarp with a sign that read 'Wet Cement', and Sakura landed next to that tarp. The workers must had just finished, working late into the night before leaving for home since the small cement mixer was warm. She took out the kunai, still in its holster, grabbed a nearby trowel, loosened the edges of the tarp, and then pushed the instrument of death into the still wet cement using the trowel to then smoothen out the surface. The entire time, Sakura felt as if she was a passenger in her own body as her hands re-tightened the tarp. At this time, she looked up to see clouds starting to gather.

And then, she rushed home. She felt she was in control once again. And the tears flowed.

"What will you do now, Sakura?" Naruto asked with a quizzical look on his face, "are you gonna kill Ino, Shikamaru, Choji? Or how about Hinata – she's a little weird, right?"

"P-Please," Sakura stuttered shaking her head while her eyes were closed, "I… I…"

"Oh, you're hesitating now?" Naruto sneered as he glared at Sakura, "what if the greatest of the great Uchiha-damn-him-Sasuke told you to kill them? Would you do it? Would you do it for his love?!"

" _Damn it, Sakura!"_ the Inner Voice yelled _, "that's not Naruto! I should know… he's in your head. He's in your head!"_

"I am in your head, Sakura," Naruto said as Sakura snapped open her eyes and stared at the vision of her former teammate in stunned silence, "feeling guilty? I never knew you had such a spunky version of yourself in your own mind." Naruto then sighed, "I'll be here for a long time, Sakura. Maybe you should have taken that Kunai and shoved it into your chest."

"Na-Naruto," Sakura stared in disbelief at what the figure in front of her, a figment of her own imagination, had just said, "I…"

"You were just thinking it, Sakura," Naruto whispered, "about how you could have just shoved that kunai into your heart after seeing my body again."

"Stop, please," Sakura closed her eyes tight again and shook her head.

"I'll never stop, Sakura," said 'Naruto', "you never wanted to be with the real me, which is ironic since now you're stuck with… well… me." Sakura opened her eyes to a flash of lightning illuminating 'Naruto's' face, "and I'll make sure you feel guilt eat up everything that you are… from your friendships, to your bonds with your family, to whatever else remains in that pit of darkness you call your heart. I will make sure you die alone and unloved for EVERYTHING YOU DID TO ME! FOR THE PAIN YOU CAUSED ME AND FOR MURDERING ME!"

At the clap of thunder – one that caused Sakura to choke out a sob as she reached out with her hand and tried to call out for 'Naruto'.

"You sicken me, Haruno," the 'Naruto' in her mind said as he stood in front of her, "you sicken me. And it sickens me that the real me never realized the kind of monster you are."

" _We made a terrible mistake, Sakura, we…"_

"Stop making excuses for her!" the 'Naruto' yelled out at Sakura's Inner Voice, "a terrible mistake is not going to the Hokage immediately after cleaning MY blood off HER HANDS! But she's sitting on her bed like the deranged maniac she is and…."

" _Stop it!"_ Sakura flinched at her Inner Voice yelling out while her own voice was silent. She was shivering as 'Naruto' then spoke.

"Then go the Hokage now," demanded 'Naruto', "tell her that you killed me. Tell her that your precious Uchiha left the village. You know where he's going, Haruno. SO, GO AND TELL HER!"

"I… I'm just... just Haruno now?" Sakura managed to whisper in between her sobs.

"Do you think you deserve to be called anything else?" the 'Naruto' in her mind growled, "you think you deserve to be called Sakura-chan? Or just plain Sakura? Do you really think the real me would ever call you anything but a murderer?"

Sakura just stared at 'Naruto' with anguish etched on her face. She was silent, knowing in her heart that the image of Naruto in front of her was correct. She didn't deserve to be called Sakura or Sakura-chan by him.

"What was it that Kakashi-sensei said?" the 'Naruto' rubbed the back of his head while deep in thought, "oh yeah, those who break the rules and regulations are trash…" Naruto had a sneer on his face now looking back at Sakura, "you killed me… you broke the rules; you killed me, so you are trash."

"NAru.." Sakura whispered as a sob threatened to escape her lips. But before she could finish saying his name, Naruto continued to speak.

"And those who abandon their friends are lower than trash," Naruto then chuckled before pointing at the crying Sakura and saying, "you're both. Trash and lower than trash. How does it feel, Haruno?"

" _Sakura, this was a mistake we made."_ The Inner Voice said as 'Naruto' tilted his head, _"we killed Naruto because we were fools. Then I took over control of your body when you were mentally retreating while in Naruto's room. I was the one who used our body to throw away the evidence. We will mourn. We will…"_

"I will make sure you never move on, Haruno," the image of 'Naruto' growled, "I will remind you of what you did every day, week, month, and year until the day you die. You are trash, Haruno. You are lower than trash." Sakura looked away and lowered her head.

" _Sakura, we need to get some sleep. I know it's hard, I know…"_

"She will never sleep," 'Naruto' growled as Sakura shook, "if she has a heart, she will never sleep. She will…"

"Forgive me," Sakura whispered, turning her head towards 'Naruto' her eyes wet with still flowing tears. "Please forgive me."

"I'm a manifestation of your guilt, Haruno," the 'Naruto' said, "I'm in your head. Can you really seek forgiveness from yourself even when you know deep inside that black heart of yours that you are guilty? I know that you know that guilt will never fade away. I mean look at you… so pathetic."

"Naruto," Sakura whispered, the green in her eyes brighter because of the tears in her eyes, "I…"

"You know you don't deserve forgiveness because if you thought you did, then you would have gone to Tsunade and told her that the traitor left the village," 'Naruto' said shaking his head as lightning flashes across the sky, "you still protect him. The both – you and your inner subconscious self - still protect that little shit despite…"

Sakura looked away in shame while her Inner Voice yelled out, _"It's to protect her!"_

"Sure it is," the 'Naruto' growled at the Inner Voice's words.

" _I keep her safe. I keep all of us safe, including you, Naruto,"_ the Inner Voice gently spoke out _._

"I still find this funny," chuckled 'Naruto' as he stood facing Sakura, "two Haruno's in one mind. But then again, your guilt created me. So, there's two Haruno's, one conscious and one subconscious, and one Uzumaki in your head. There's a joke somewhere in that, I know it… somewhere there is a joke. Oh, oh, Two Haruno's and one Uzumaki walked into a ramen bar, and…"

" _Shut up!"_

"Please, Naruto, stop," Sakura whispered, her body shaking, "please."

"No," 'Naruto' growled.

"Please," Sakura whispered bring her hands to both sides of her head pressing down into her temples, "please."

"What if I told you that to get rid of me, you would have to kill Sasuke," the 'Naruto' said. Sakura opened her eyes and stared at him with a distraught face and then looked away, her arms falling limping by her sides.

Even the Inner Voice was quiet.

"I pity you, Haruno… and the Inner Haruno," Naruto said before shrugging his shoulders, "I suppose I could let you relax for tonight. I'm not going anywhere, and there is the rest of your pitiful life for me to torture you."

" _I'll protect her,"_ the Inner Voice said _._

"Good luck, I would like to see you try pushing away the guilt that's in her head," the 'Naruto' sneered before vanishing. And suddenly, Sakura felt exhausted. She released several sobbing sounds before falling sideways on her bed. Her head landing on her pillow before she fell into an uneasy sleep.

 **Hokage's Office, 0700 hours.**

"Kakashi," Tsunade said handing the Jonin a scroll coloured green with white and blue borders, "we received an emergency request from a small town at the border of the Land of Fire."

Kakashi unsealed the scroll while Tsunade continued speaking, "a gang of bandits are using the current weakened state of Konoha to molest several towns on the border. Their MO is on the scroll."

"They threaten the village, demand all their money and resources-particularly gold and silver- and then return two weeks later to collect," Kakashi read the scroll before looking back up, "and I take it you want my team to head there and take care of these bandits?"

"Yes, Team Seven leaves in an hour," Tsunade said nodding her head. Kakashi simply bowed before turning around and walking out of the office. He stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him, and then with his hands in his pockets he walked towards the stairs at the end. Once he was outside the building, he leapt up and began running form one roof to another, never expecting the type of day he was about to have.

It would be two minutes later that he would be using the chakra on his feet to stick to the small ledge outside Sasuke's apartment window. He was staring at the already made bed while knocking on the window.

There was no sign that anyone was moving. No shadows coming from the other room indicating that Sasuke was rushing to his bedroom to investigate who was knocking. Kakashi knocked again while staring into the room. Everything seemed normal, everything seemed to be in place. He knew that Sasuke was immaculate, so of course everything in his apartment was going to be where they were supposed to be. Kakashi's eyes scanned the room while he knocked again – his gloved knuckles continued rapping against the glass and only stopping mid-way when he noticed something out of place. It was a photo frame he had given Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura; their first picture together after the Bell Test.

"Why is that frame…?" Kakashi whispered staring at the downturned photo frame as he rapped harder on the window, "Sasuke."

Still no answer. Kakashi looked away from the glass and spoke to himself, "is he training? That sounds like him but…" Kakashi looked back into the room through the window and saw the photo frame facing downwards – it was something definitely out of place. "Sasuke." Kakashi hoped that the feeling of dread in his gut was just that, a feeling. He went to Team Seven's training ground and saw no sign of the dark-haired boy.

'Maybe he's with Naruto and Sakura?' Kakashi thought that was unlikely, especially given the fight he stopped on the hospital roof yesterday, but he still had to hope the two boys made up. One was the last of the Uchiha, a prestigious bloodline, one was the top Kunoichi of her class – a civilian with no clan associations, something that in of itself was amazing; and the other was the only son of his sensei and the container of the Kyuubi. It was both painful and a relief whenever Kakashi would look at Naruto – he reminded the Jonin so much of his Minato-sensei, and at the same time it was that same memory that hurt. Kakashi was the last of their team – Obito died, Rin died by his own hands, and then Minato died saving the lives of the village by locking the Kyuubi away in his own son.

It was a few minutes later that Kakashi landed on the window ledge just outside Naruto's bed. And what he saw shocked him to no end; so much so he felt his heart skip a beat. His breathing quickened, tears welled up in his eyes, and a sense of horror took over.

There was so much blood spattered across the inside of Naruto's window. So much blood.

"Naruto!" he yelled out. He didn't care if anyone could hear the grief in his voice. He ran the side of the wall and jumped onto the balcony. "Naruto!" Kakashi yelled kicking the balcony door down and rushing into the blonde's room, his nose immediately smelling the stench of blood… a lot of blood. As he frantically ran to Naruto's room, Kakashi's memories went back to that fateful night.

 **The night of the Kyuubi attack.**

Kakashi heard the rumours.

He told himself that it wasn't possible. Not Minato-sensei.

He rushed into the Hokage tower. He ran up the stairs whilst breathing hard. He passed by those who reached out and tried to stop him. He passed by those who pulled others back while whispering, "he was the Yondaime's student, let him be." Kakashi heard the sadness in their voices when they used the past tense – 'was'. As he rushed through the hallway on the top floor. He saw the elders walking out of the Hokage's office.

They didn't stop him. They didn't even look at him.

He passed the one who would later approach him – the one known as Danzo – to join his Root organization. Kakashi ran to the door, he grabbed the handles with hands that were trembling. He didn't care that it was inappropriate, he simply pushed the doors open and rushed inside before he stilled at the sound of a crying baby. Kakashi stared, his eyes wide open in shock and grief, at the Sandaime Hokage standing in his armour with a baby cradled in his arms. The old man looked up at Kakashi and then looked away with a great sadness painted on the older man's face – that told Kakashi everything he needed to know.

The rumours were true.

"Close the door, and come in, Kakashi," the Sandaime said while still cradling the baby in his arms.

"Ye… yes," Kakashi whispered as he stepped inside and closed the door while the Sandaime activated every single privacy seal in his office. Even the widows automatically darkened, telling the young Jonin that whatever he was going to be told was a secret – the highest level of secret punishable by death. There would be no trial.

"The Yondaime Namikaze Minato has passed," the Sandaime said as the baby in his arms quietened down, "as has his wife…"

"Kushina nee-chan?" Kakashi opened his eyes wide open, 'no… no… no… not her… not the two of them… no…'

"I am afraid so, child," the Sandaime said, looking down at the sleeping baby. The attack took many lives, he would reveal, including that of his own wife.

"I… I… you have my condolences, Sandaime-sama," Kakashi whispered as he looked down at the floor with his eyes closed shut.

"I know you have questions, that is why you have come," Hiruzen, the Sandaime, said, "I know you wanted to know about your Sensei, and… and know he gave his life for the village. As any Hokage would do."

"Hai," Kakashi whispered, his head still lowered while his hands rolled into fists.

"What do you wish to know?"

"Kushina nee-chan was pregnant, is the baby…."

"The elders were told that the baby died at birth, and that Minato selected another child to seal the Kyuubi."

At hearing that, Kakashi snapped his head up and stared into the Sandaime's eyes… his sad eyes. And knew it was a lie. And it was confirmed a few seconds later as Hiruzen looked down at the child in his arms.

"I was there… Kushina used her chakra chains to create an impenetrable barrier," Hiruzen whispered as he walked around his table and then stood in front of the shaking Kakashi who was trying not to cry, "he sealed the Kyuubi into his son, Naruto."

"Naruto," Kakashi whispered looking up as the Hiruzen bent forward slightly and showed Kakashi the baby in his arms – he was a tiny thing with wisps of blonde hair and distinctive whisper marks, three on each cheek.

"I…" Kakashi looked up towards Hiruzen's eyes, "I would like to adopt him. He is my sensei's legacy, I…"

"You are a child yourself," Hiruzen said as he walked back behind his desk, "the both of us know you will be unable to give him a proper home." Kakashi saw the old man looking back down at the now sleeping child and whispered, "even I cannot adopt him."

"Sandaime-sama," Kakashi was outraged, he was about to continued speaking when Hiruzen stopped him.

"It is not that I do not want to," Hiruzen said, "I was… advised against it." It was then that Kakashi recalled the advisors who walked out the hall… the ones he had passed earlier. Hiruzen continued to say that every clan would want to claim the baby since Naruto was the Kyuubi container– and that if a clan was chosen over the other clans, then it would seem like the Hokage was showing favouritism. They advised that the child be adopted by a civilian family with no clan ties.

However, somehow, over the following days, it was leaked that Naruto was the vessel for the Kyuubi. Kakashi didn't know who had done it, but after he was called in again to the Sandaime, he swore he would never put the life of his Sensei's son in jeopardy. In the end, Naruto was placed in the orphanage to placate the advisors and the clans. A law was passed to never mention again that Naruto was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, this was done so that Naruto's burden wouldn't be an issue for the next generation.

But that backfired spectacularly.

While he had never seen Naruto beaten or physically harmed- he had seen the villagers ignore him, call him names, and tell their children not to be around him. But Kakashi couldn't interfere, those were orders when he was assigned to tail Naruto when the little boy was six years old. His orders lasted for a year before he was sent out to one mission after another as Anbu Captain.

He would check in on Naruto once in a while, but the more he checked in on him, the more it hurt Kakashi. At the same time, the more it pleased him that his sensei was alive in Naruto.

And then came the day of his genin assignment – he was to take charge of Team Seven; Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. Kakashi still couldn't believe that no one in the Village had put two and two together – that Naruto looked so much like the Yondaime did when the latter was younger. But he supposed the fact that Naruto was the Kyuubi's jailer blinded them.

The day of the bell test, he hoped that Naruto wouldn't mess it up. But he did. Kakashi still passed all three for their teamwork. He saw Naruto slowly improve, but not as much as Sasuke. As for Sakura, Kakashi believed she could be much better than she already was if she wasn't so fixated on Sasuke.

Then came the day of the Land of Waves mission. Naruto showed what kind of ninja he could become. A spark of pride ignited in Kakashi at the blonde ninja who didn't give up. Kakashi knew he had made many mistakes, including not directly teaching Naruto on a one to one basis or taking the boy in when he was a little older.

He wanted to teach Naruto. But he felt that he would be better suited for Sasuke since the latter needed to learn more about how to use the Sharingan – it was something that even Jiraiya agreed with when he returned for the Chuunin exams. The next Kakashi saw Naruto was at the Arena battleground, before sending the boy on his way to be a back-up to Sasuke. It would be later he learned that not only had Naruto been the one to save Sakura, but he was the one who also stopped Gaara of the Sand.

After hearing and reading those reports, Kakashi knew that the lonely boy from years ago had a bright future as a ninja.

 **Naruto's apartment.**

And now, Kakashi fought the bile rising up his throat from the heavy stench of blood.

He gripped the two opposite sides of the wooden door frame so that his body didn't crumble down to the floor while his legs trembled.

He fought the tears from flowing down his cheeks.

All he could do was stare at the pale lifeless body lying on the bed. The sheets were soaked with blood, the red liquid dripping down the edge and forming a pool of mostly congealed blood on the floor. Kakashi stared into the pale eyes staring at the ceiling as he mentally yelled out in anguish, "NO!"

He had to be alive, Kakashi stared at the bloody gash from the left side of the neck to the middle of the throat. He knew that Naruto was dead... he knew it. But it didn't matter, in his mind Naruto had to be still alive. He rushed forward and placed his arms underneath Naruto's body. He could feel the slick wetness from the blood on the sheets as he lifted Naruto off and then rushed out of the apartment through the backway. He then hopped as fast as he could towards the hospital… the doctors had to be able to do something.

Even though Kakashi knew Naruto was dead; he wanted the doctor to do something. His mind was screaming for them to do something for the son of his Sensei.

He hoped against hope that there was something… anything that could be done. He knew grief was clouding his mind – after all he was holding onto the last legacy of the Yondaime. The last legacy of the woman he called an Older Sister, the last legacy of his Sensei. Kakashi knew he had made a lot of mistakes in his life – and he hoped this wasn't payback by the gods for those mistakes. He would rather his life be ended than the boy in his arms.

'Naruto! Naruto!" he mentally yelled. But he knew for a fact that Naruto was dead, yet his heart refused to follow his mind.

"Kakashi!" the Jonin heard a voice in the distance. It was familiar to him. But he didn't care to stop He couldn't stop.

"Kakashi!" the voice was getting closer. The hospital was also getting closer, but he couldn't stop. He didn't want to stop. The doctors at the hospital had to do something… they had to….

'Tsunade-sama. What am I doing… I need to get Naruto to Tsunade-sama… she can.. yeah.. she can…' Kakashi changed direction while hearing a yell from his left, "my rival!"

It was now that Kakashi recognized the voice. It was getting closer until he could just make out a figure in green from the corner of his eyes.

"My rival, you are moving as if the fires of youth….!" The voice stopped. Kakashi could see, out of the corner of his eyes a figure with bowl-cut hair, thick-eyebrows and a stunned look on his face moving alongside him. "Kakashi, is.. is that… what happened?"

Kakashi couldn't remember the name of the man next to him; his eyes were dead set on the distant windows of Tsunade's office.

"Kakashi!"

At the scream, now Kakashi remembered the name of the man. He had been by his side the day of Obito's funeral along with Rin. And then he was by Kakashi's side the day of Rin's funeral. And then he was by Kakashi's side the day of Minato and Kushina's funeral.

"Gai," Kakashi wheezed, his head turning around with welled up tears towards the stunned Gai. The Green Beast of Konoha's eyes were fixed on the body of the blonde who was still in his bloody pyjama's, being carried in Kakashi's arms "he… I.. I found him…"

"Where?" Guy asked, his breath hitched.

"His… his bedroom… I.. I need to get to Tsunade… I…"

"We're almost there," Gai said looking at his rival and best friend before looking down at Naruto. Gai hoped to see some sign of life, but the fact that Naruto wasn't breathing and the deep gash on the boy's neck told him that the boy was dead. Gai looked ahead with his face having lost any outward expression.

 **Tsunade's office.**

The door to her office closed following the issuance of a mission scroll to Team Ten; it was decided that Sarutobi Asuma would be second in command on this mission so as to give Chuunin Nara Shikamaru some experience in being an official team Captain. Tsunade leaned back on her seat and reached down to the bottommost drawer on her desk. She slid it open, and reached down to grab one of the sake bottles inside. Her fingers just touched the neck of one of the bottles when suddenly the whole thing shattered, broken glass and liquid on the bottom of the drawer among the other bottles. Tsunade's eyes widened, she felt a jolt of pain in her chest as she sat straight back up. Her heard was racing, her breathing deepened. She felt as if there was something bad about to happen – the same feelings she'd get once she won at gambling.

It was a feeling of dread.

Suddenly three was a blast of wind through the open windows behind her to the opposite side of her table. She saw a swirl of leaves which dispersed revealing Gai and Kakashi – the latter carrying Naruto in his arms.

"Hokage-sama," Gai said while the big breasted Tsunade jumped into action, her arms sweeping aside every pile of papers and scrolls on her table to the floor, "Naruto…"

"What happened?" Tsunade ordered while activating the privacy seals around the office. She signalled Kakashi to place Naruto's body on her table before she looked up to the one eyed Jonin. Tsunade saw the wetness on the man's mask before her blurring vision, thanks to her own wet eyes, shifted towards Guy who was staring down at Naruto.

"I… I was.." Kakashi took in a deep breath and looked up at Tsunade who had her hand on the gash on Naruto's neck before her eyes widened and she reached down and lifted his pyjama top to just under his chest.

"No this cannot be happening… no… no… no," Tsunade whispered as she pumped a little bit of chakra into where she was told by Jiraiya the seal would be… or rather should have been since it didn't reveal itself. Tsunade tried to keep her breathing calm and collected – something she was finding hard to do – while examining the rest of Naruto's body. However, she knew, just from looking at Naruto's body, that he was dead. Tsunade simply knew - his body was pale, he had no heartbeat, and no blood flow. She could tell that Naruto had been dead for at least five hours just from a cursory examination.

Tsunade gulped as tears slipped down her cheeks while she pulled down the pyjama top to cover his abdomen.

"Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi whispered as he watched her close his eye lids, "you must be able to do something? Anything?"

"His youth cannot be gone, Tsunade-sama," Gai added as Tsunade wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "you are the best medic in the world and…"

"And even I cannot bring someone back from the dead," Tsunade whispered looking at the bloody face lying on her table, her hands trembling as they lay flat on his chest while she stared at Naruto's face. He eyes then shifted towards the crystal hanging from the Shodaime's necklace, 'the curse… even you Naruto. Everyone I gave that necklace to has died and…" Tsunade's vision blurred as more tears fell down her cheeks remembering the boy she met more than months ago, the boy who restored her faith in a dream that was already lost to her at that period of time. And now, it felt as if everything was crashing around her again.

She looked up and saw Kakashi's shoulders slumped forward while Gai placed a comforting hand on the masked Jonin's shoulder. Tsunade could see that Kakashi was trying to push aside his emotions… he was shaking… his hands were rolled into fists, and he was trying to look past Tsunade to a spot on the wall which tears fell down to the edge of his mask… the water causing wet spots as it beaded down the cloth surface.

Tsunade reached down and gently placed a hand on Naruto's arm before taking a deep breath. She wanted to scream out, to weep out and openly, she wanted to sob hysterically at the death of one who she considered a distant nephew. Tsunade knew in her heart that the boy lying on her table would have been Hokage one day; but now that would never happen. Naruto was dead, and she was the Hokage… which meant she needed to have some professionalism. And so she continued to speak while struggling to keep a steady voice, "Naruto died at least five hours ago.. At least that's what I can tell from a cursory examination. The seal on his abdomen is gone…"

"Which means?"

"The Kyuubi is gone, it's dead.. or.. take your pick.. it's gone," Tsunade said shaking her head. A large part of her didn't care that the Kyuubi was gone – to her, the loss of the seal meant that Naruto was really dead since death was the only way that seal could vanish on its own. And she would have felt it if the Kyuubi was forcefully extracted from Naruto.

Tsunade then turned to Kakashi and noticed the blood on his arms, 'the guy must have carried him all the way here,' she thought while wiping her eyes and continuing to make her voice sound professional.

"Kakashi, what happened?" Tsunade asked once again, this time a crack in her voice.

"I… I went to Sasuke's apartment to inform him about the mission, and to meet at the gates in an hour," Kakashi said, "but when I knocked on his window, there was no one there."

"Was he training?"

"No," Kakashi said, "I thought that maybe he was doing something... maybe he was speaking to Naruto after the fight they had but…"

"And Haruno Sakura?"

"I haven't talked to her yet."

"I'll tell her, and…"

Kakashi took in a deep breath and stood straight, "it's my responsibility, Hokage-sama. I.. I'll tell her."

"Neko," Tsunade whispered before an armoured Anbu appeared in the room next to Kakashi. The woman behind the mask staring in shock at the body on the table before turning towards Kakashi who was staring at the body now, "take a team and search for Uchiha Sasuke. Find him, and then tell him to meet Kakashi and I at the hospital. Don't tell him anything else." The purple haired Anbu nodded her head, "and Neko, what you have seen is a SSS class secret, understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Neko said bowing towards Tsunade before she looked over at Kakashi who was now standing still as he continued staring at Naruto. Neko nodded her head at Kakashi, "I am sorry, senpai," she whispered before she shunshined out of the office.

"Bear," Tsunade said as a large masked man in Anbu uniform wearing a ceramic mask made to look like a bear shunshined in, his head was then turned towards Naruto's body. Although he didn't outwardly show surprise at what he was seeing, Tsunade, GAi, and Kakashi could tell from the way the man slightly twitched that he was stunned. However, Tsunade didn't have time to waste, someone killed Naruto - it could be an assassin from outside the village who figured out he was the Kyuubi Jinchuukiri, 'or it could be much worse. Someone from the village... a citizen of Konoha... killed him because they couldn't stand that Naruto is just a boy dealt with a bad hand.' She glared at Bear and said, "form a team. I want Anbu towards all the gates in and out of Konoha. Tell the sentries to lock down the village. No one goes in or out until we find out who did this."

She glanced at Kakashi and GAi, both of whom simply looked at her before she turned back towards Bear, "tell the gatekeepers that this is a battle drill. Tell them to pass on the message to the other sentry's on the wall, this is a full scale battle drill... no one is allowed in or out. If anyone lets anyone come in or leave, they will answer to me." Bear nodded his head, his eyes shifting back towards Tsunade before she continued, "and what you have seen is an SSS Class secret, is that understood?"

"Understood, Hokage-sama," Bear said, his eyes shifted back towards Naruto's pale body. His eyes then shifted towards Tsunade and then to Kakashi, "you have my condolences, Kakashi-san." Kakashi stared at Naruto, but he nodded his head as Bear looked away and back towards Tsunade who had one more order.

"Bear, before all that. Ready three Anbu to relay a message to the Elders," Tsunade said, trying her hardest to speak in an even voice while wiping the tears welled up in her eyes, "tell them to meet me at the morgue... do not tell them why. Just that it is urgent."

"Understood," Bear said nodding his head.

"Go," Tsunade ordered, and the man was gone in a swirl of leaves before she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and then glanced at Naruto with a look of sorrow before she turned her head back towards the two Jonin in front of her. Kakashi was staring at Naruto's body as well, his eyes showing regret and sorrow as his body was shaking while his hands were rolled up into fists. Tsunade awas going to call the man when he suddenly looked up at Tsunade and spoke.

"Tsunade-sama, with your permission I would like to get my nin-ken onto the trail of who ever it is that killed Naruto," Kakashi said, his eyes going back down to the dead boy and then back up to the Hokage doing everything she could to keep her anguish away from the surface, "I have his blood on my arms, and the way he was killed..." Kakashi closed his eyes and shook his head at the thought of an attacker murdering NAruto by slicing one side of his neck wide open He then opened his eyes and stared at the blonde boy as Kakashi imagined him struggling to breath while reaching out towards his attacker, 'he was alone. He was alone and probably wondering where we were... where Sakura, Sakura and I were... why we weren't there to back him up and...'

"Kakashi," Gai said when he noticed Kakashi stopped talking and was staring at Naruto's body. He felt for his friend, and he could only imagine waht he was going through before saying, "your nin-ken, you were about to call for them."

"Right," Kakashi whispered before he bit his thumb, drawing blood, and then slammed his hand onto the floor after turning around, "Summoning Jutsu!" There was a large plump of smoke that dissipated to reveal all of Kakashi's nin-ken. It was Pakkun who look up at Kakashi, raised a paw, and then spoke.

"Yo." Pakkun then sniffed the air, as did the other dogs before they looked at the boy lying on the table behind Kakashi. Pakkun had his eyes wide open before looking up at Kakashi, "is that Naruto? What happened?"

"Someone killed him," Kakashi said, an edge in his voice before crouching down and then offering his bloodied arms to Pakkun and the other dogs, "remember the scent. Whoever it was, cut one of Naruto's arteries... the scent of the blood spatter should be on his or her body and clothes. It;s something that can't be washed off that easily."

Pakkun nodded his head.

"Follow the scent, once you find who it is, come back to me. Do not engage, I'll do that myself," Kakashi said, his mind still going back to imagining a man under the cover of darkness killing the son of his sensei. In his mind, Kakashi could see Naruto's arms flailing about as he tried to reach for the man. Kakashi then took in a deep breath as he stood up and said, "scatter." The dogs rushed off, after which Kakashi turned around and face Tsunade who was rubbing her forehead while looking down at Naruto, and then back up at Kakashi.

"Gai, please accompany Kakashi to notify Haruno Sakura," Tsunade whispered while staring at the green clothed man as she placed a hand on Naruto's forehead, "and then…." Tsunade stopped talking and her head snapped back down towards Naruto's head. Her eyes opened wider at the sensation she was feeling through her hand resting on the dead boy's forehead.

"How…" she whispered narrowing her eyes at Naruto's head, the middle of his forehead specifically, where her hand was resting.

"SHIZUNE!" she yelled out, causing the two men in her office to jump, "SHIZUNE! GET THE HELL INTO MY OFFICE NOW!"

Tsunade looked back up at Kakashi and then at Gai, and then back to Kakashi while saying excitedly, "Kakashi, I'm getting foreign chakra here..." she tapped her fingers on Naruto's forehead and then began the Mystic Palm Technique, pumping chakra into an already dead body. "It's clear now, there's foreign chakra here, around his brain."

"The Kyuubi?" Gai asked while Kakashi stared at Naruto, his features highlighted in the green glow from Tsunade's palms.

"No," Tsunade said as she moved her hand on Naruto's forehead to his face, just over his closed eyelids, "nothing here." Her hand moved down to his torn neck, "no chakra here." And then down to his chest, specifically his heart. And she gasped in disbelief, "there's foreign chakra here, but… but it's different to the one around his brain."

Before Kakashi and Gai could ask anything, the doors to the Hokage's office swung inwards and impacted the walls on either side of the room.

"Tsunade-sama! You called… oh my God!" Shizune rushed in and then stopped at the sight on the table, "Naruto-kun!" Shizune then looked back up at the Hokage, "What.. what happened?"

"Shizune," Tsunade looked up at her apprentice, "we don't have a lot of time. I need chakra tags in Operating Room 5A. I also need every unit of 'O' blood we have, a heart lung machine, and a crash cart now!"

"But… I.. oh God, I can see he's… he's dead…"

"Not every part of him is dead. Now go!" Shizune rushed out of the room with tears in her eyes leaving Kakashi and Guy to stare at Tsunade – Kakashi with hope in his eyes.

"He's dead… but I'm detecting two types of foreign chakra around his brain and his heart and then…." Tsunade stopped her hand over where the seal used to be. It was now hovering over the exact center of his abdomen. She pumped in more of her chakra through her medical ninjutsu, "but none of his own chakra." Tsunade then looked up and placed a hand on his forehead, and then one on his heart, a smile forming as her mind raced on how to best revive the boy. "The foreign chakra is very weak," Tsunade said, "it just needs a little reinforcement, another push of chakra to light the fading spark." She then looked up to the confused faces staring back at her.

"This is simply not possible," Tsunade excitedly said, her forehead beading with sweat, as she continued to gently pump heling chakra into his forehead towards the brain and his heart, "there are two distinct foreign chakra around his brain and his heart."

"I don't… I don't understand," Kakashi whispered looking down at the pale Naruto, "how? If it's not the Kyuubi..."

"Minutes after death, the brain stops working, and then slowly the heart starts to die," Tsunade mumbled to herself while pumping more chakra into Naruto's brain and heart, "it's not the Kyuubi, but I detected a bit… a drop of…." Tsunade looked back at Naruto with narrowed eyes, her heart racing at the possibility that there was a way to bring Naruto back to the land of the living. But it was the foreign chakra that concerned her, if it wasn't the Kyuubi, then how did those two chakra signatures end up in his body. The more she reinforced that foreign chakra with her own healing chakra, Tsunade felt something familiar emanating from the foreign chakra signatures. Tsunade then looked up at Kakashi, "who are his parents? Gai? Kakashi? Who are Naruto's parents?"

"Naruto's an orphan," Gai said as he looked at the boy before looking towards Tsunade who was herself staring at Kakashi. Gai turned towards Kakashi who was staring at Naruto with a look of relief and… there was something on his face. Something that told him that he was staring at Naruto with an expression of familiarity, "Kakashi?"

"He's an orphan," Kakashi said looking back up and directly at Tsunade.

"Given that the chakra's I'm detecting are of two people I know who are dead, I am guessing that he's an orphan," Tsunade said, "his Ninja and Academy files are all redacted. No mention of his parents." Kakashi nodded his head as he stared at Naruto, "but I know the two different chakra's… the two foreign chakra's in his body. I met them before I left Konoha." Kakashi looked back up at Tsunade, his eyes shifting back down to Naruto while Gai shifted his gaze from Kakashi to Tsunade, to Kakashi once again.

"Two different chakras'?" Guy whispered at Kakashi, and then he asked the same question to Tsunade. 'Who are his parents? And why is Kakashi so…' Gai thought as he looked back at his rival and best friend, sensing the disbelief that was emanating from him.

"Is… is it theirs? Really?" Kakashi asked in disbelief, "Tsunade-sama, really?"

"You know then," Tsunade concluded while Guy was looking at Kakashi, and then at Tsunade, and then at Kakashi once again with exasperation. She saw Kakashi nod his head before looking back down at Naruto. She wondered how it is that no-one, not even herself, noticed the similarities. A smile formed on her face, "so it's true?"

"The Sandaime wanted Naruto to know who his parents were after he turned eighteen, or when he became a Jonin- whichever came first," Kakashi said as he remembered that fateful night he saw Naruto for the first time, "Sansaime-sama wanted him to learn how to defend himself before learning the truth. The Sandaime gave me his birth certificate.. his real certificate I mean, and every record in regards to him and his parents."

"Who are the boy's parents?" Guy asked, sensing that Tsunade and Kakashi were keeping a secret.

"So everything we heard was a lie," Tsunade shook her head while a confused Gai stood next to Kakashi, the latter's question remained unanswered, "Sensei asked you to keep everything that rightly belongs to him, and them, safe?"

"It's all in a secret location," Kakashi whispered, "in the event the Sandaime passed away, he left me in charge to transfer everything that was rightly Naruto's on his eighteenth birthday."

"What are you talking about Kakashi, Tsunade-sama?" Gai asked looking between the two of them.

"So you have…" Tsunade wanted to laugh. All the jutsu's and secrets of the Namikaze family and the Uzumaki clan were right under the noses of the Elders and herself; they were away from Danzo. But Tsunade held back from laughing, "everything? Even…. Even HIS jutsu?"

"Even THAT jutsu," Kakashi said nodding his head, "it was a few days after the attack. The Sandaime told me to protect everything that belonged to THEM so that certain people…"

"I see," Tsunade said looking back down at Naruto, her hands now over his forehead and heart while she pumped chakra, "I am slowly reinforcing their chakra."

"Naruto's parents chakra?" Gai asked.

"Gai," Kakashi said looking at the man, "I can't tell you. Not until I tell Naruto."

"You plan on telling him then?" Tsunade asked, her eyes locked with Kakashi's, eyes that then looked down towards Naruto.

"I made many mistakes in my life, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said, "one was always knowing who Narutos's parents were, and not telling him. But if this has proven anything, I don't want him to… to die without knowing who he is, and who his parents were."

Gai wondered to himself, why would anyone want to keep Naruto's true parentage a secret. He himself thought that Naruto's parents were simple casualties of the Kyuubi attack and that the Yondaime selected an orphan to hold the Kyuubi within. As he looked down at Naruto, Gai thought to himself that he pitied Naruto for being selected for such a burden. When he first heard the truth about Naruto being a Jinchuriki from the leak, he couldn't believe that the Yondaime would do such a thing to an innocent child. He was there at the funeral for Minato, Kushina, and there was another blacked out picture frame that represented the baby the two of them had lost in the attack.

Hell, even Kakashi had confirmed to him, after he rushed off to talk to the Hokage, that the baby and Kushina died when the Kyuubi went on a rampage. But now, the way Kakashi was staring at Naruto, this was the most open he had seen the usually guarded Kakashi. Gai could sense the relief coming off him in waves.

And Gai began to wonder. Why would Kakashi be so relieved about this particular boy? He had sensed a great sorrow earlier from Kakashi, and now the masked shinobi was relieved. However, Gai's thoughts were broken by Kakashi who asked if Naruto would be alive… if he could be revived.

"We're lucky," Tsunade said as medics entered the office with bags and a gurney, "his parents' chakra's are acting like blood; protecting his heart and brain."

"Will he recover? Will he…"

"I don't know," Tsunade admitted as the body was placed on the gurney before Tsunade who, so that Naruto received a steady amount of chakra, climbed on top of the boy while keeping her palms over his forehead and heart.

'Minato, Kushina, even in death, the two of you are trying to save your son,' Tsunade thought, 'I will do my best to revive him. I swear.'

Tsunade then turned towards the medics, "get us to room 5A. Kakashi, get us there under a genjutsu."

"Understood," Kakashi said as he lifted the pat of his headband covering his left eye to reveal the Sharingan.

"This goes for everyone here," Tsunade said, "what you have seen is considered from this moment a SSS class secret punishable by death. Understood?"

"Yes," all of them nodded their heads.

"Tsunade-sama, I.. I want to apologize for my emotional…" Kakashi said before he was interrupted by Gai.

"Kakashi, your student was… well… dead…." Guy then turned to Tsunade, "it is a human response Hokage-sama."

"Agreed,' Tsunade said looking at Kakashi and then at Guy, and then down at Naruto, "let's move."

TBC.


	3. Chapter 3

**Konoha, now.**

"Homura-sama," Crow, one of the Anbu in Bear's team sent to call the village Elders, kneeled behind one of them as he was having breakfast, "the Hokage requests your presence in the hospital morgue."

"The morgue?" Homura looked over his shoulder in surprise at the man kneeling on one leg with his head bowed low, "what is it? What has happened?"

"I am not at liberty to say, Homura-sama," the man in the Crow mask replied, "Hokage-sama will inform you of everything you need to know. I have only been ordered to inform you that this is an urgent order."

Homura, one of the village elders along with Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzo, frowned before turning his head away from the Anbu behind him. The man gave an almost imperceptible nod of the head before the Anbu flickered away towards one of the Konoha gates. In the meantime, Homura picked up his bowl of Miso soup while wondering what it was that had Tsunade call for him and possibly the other two Elders so early when they were still reconstructing damaged parts of the village. He knew that to do so meant that something very important had happened, and he couldn't help but fear whatever happened wasn't going to be good news.

While the Anbu under Bear's command informed the other two members of the Konoha Council, the Anbu code-named Neko was amongst a team scattered throughout the village searching for one Uchiha Sasuke. Her purple hair whipped behind her as warm wind rushed by while she shunshined from one location to another. She led a search of all the training grounds, the Uchiha District, at least the parts that were still standing, and the four gates that led into the village.

And so far, there was still no sign of Sasuke. And she started to get concerned.

It would be while the gates to the village were being shut that Neko thought to herself, 'a security measure following the death of the Kyuubi container, it has to be. Which means the murderer could still be inside the village,' she thought to herself as she shunshined along the main pavilion from the Hokage Tower to the main gate. She shunshined past the surprised Asuma, who was wondering why the gates would be closing so soon, before she stopped on a red coloured roof a few rows away from the main pavilion upon hearing one of her subordinates speaking into her earpiece.

"Four sentries found unconscious outside the East wall, Neko." Almost as soon as she received the news, Neko took off towards the wall. Shunshining down onto the grass just outside the Western wall a few minutes later, Neko stood next to five other Anbu as they stared at the four dead bodies laid at their feet. All the bodies were bleeding, their faces nearly unrecognizable thanks to the bruising that caused their faces to swell up. Frowning, Neko then turned around and stared out into the forest beyond.

'This is not good,' she thought to herself as she turned back towards the bodies before continuing to think, 'we've been searching for the last Uchiha, the Kyuubi boy was killed, and now we find four dead bodies outside the Western Wall several meters away from the Western Gate. This section wasn't hit during the invasion, so most of the sentries that were usually posted here were transferred temporarily to the East and Southern walls.'

She sensed more Anbu on their way, and turned to watch as five more Anbu landed next to her before looking back out towards the forest, 'the Uchiha is somewhere in the village, so could these bodies be connected with the death of the Kyuubi boy?' Neko then turned back to her fellow Anbu, "I'll inform Bear of the situation. Four of you get the bodies back into Konoha…" Neko then turned to the fifth Anbu in a white porcelain mask with red and black highlights, "Raven, get a tracking team and comb the surrounding area for any chakra signatures."

"What are you thinking?" Raven asked, his voice low as he looked at the bodies before turning his head towards Neko.

"An unknown enemy attacked the Kyuubi boy," Neko said, aware that she was lying to the others, as the other Anbu looked towards her in surprise, "and now we find four bodies at what would be the least patrolled section of the perimeter wall since there's practically no damage here. So it's possible that an enemy from outside the village slipped in through here to.."

"Hold up," one of the Anbu said, "the Kyuubi brat's… how bad was he injured?"

"Bad," Neko replied.

The man wearing the mask of an eagle shook his head, "damn, I saw that kid fight against the Hyuuga brat. That was something…"

"Yeah," Neko whispered as she stared at the bodies.

"And he fought against the Sand's Jinchuuriki… I mean on his own. A Genin fought and won against another container of a tailed beast…" a man wearing the mask of a sparrow said rubbing the back of his head, "damn. He was a troublesome kid but he had balls. Gotta him him that."

"So someone slipped into the village last night, just sauntered past the Elite Anbu of the village, and then badly injured its biggest asset without anyone knowing about it," another Anbu gruffy whispered while looking at the four bodies, "not good."

"Not good at all."

"I take it that this is a S-class secret?"

"SSS," Neko whispered.

"Damn," another Anbu said shaking his head, "heard people saying good things about the kid for the past few months."

Neko took in a deep breath before turning around and staring out at the forest while whispering, "there's nothing that way except for…" Neko stopped talking as she stared out towards the forest. She mentally pulled out a map of the area around Konoha and her eyes went wide open upon realizing something, "the Valley of the End… it's a nearly thirty-six hour journey that way and…"

Neko stiffened. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Raven, the one who was standing by her side.

"Neko?" Raven said as the Anbu in the Cat mask tensed up upon remembering the Sand-Sound invasion months ago.

"Neko?" Ignoring Raven, Neko thought back to her briefing following the Konoha Crush incident where the Sound were led by Orochimaru, with the Sannin having tricked the Sand into joining them, in attacking Konoha during the Chuunin exams. She, as well as the other Anbu, were briefed on the danger that Otogakure presented to Konoha… and she knew from maps of the Land of Fire and the former Land of Rice Paddies, the current location of Otogakure, that the Valley of the End was the closest border.

Neko looked back at her team, thoughts already swirling in her head of those who could be responsible. She knew it was a giant leap based on flimsy evidence, and she really hoped that Sasuke was still in the village; that the only reason he wasn't found yet was because he didn't want to be found. She was very aware, from her briefing, that Orochimaru wanted the last Uchiha in Konoha for some unknown reason.

'So if operatives from the Sound were sent here… they could have killed the Kyuubi boy and then kidnaped the Uchiha kid,' Neko thought before coming to a realization. She then whispered, "oh no."

But there was something in her gut saying that the boy wasn't in Konoha. She couldn't explain it, but the fact that Konoha's elite Anbu still hadn't found the boy – a Genin boy – was concerning. As was the possibility that enemy ninja slipped into Konoha to kill Naruto.

'Please let me be wrong,' Neko thought before saying, "you have your orders. Raven get a tracking team. I want a search up to five kilometres from here, if you still haven't found anything, contact me. I'm going to Bear with my suspicions."

"Understood," Raven said.

Neko then took off up the wall and then into Konoha, all the while she felt the chakra signatures of her team scattering. She then pressed her earpiece once, changing the frequency to the one her commander used.

"Bear," she whispered, "we may have a problem. I need to speak to you immediately."

"Understood," was the reply as Neko continued onwards to meet her superior officer.

 **Team 10, ten minutes after leaving the Hokage Tower.**

"Hey, Asuma-sensei, what's going on?" Shimamura asked as the team stopped in their tracks when the giant gates began closing. Asuma frowned, he knew that the few times the gates had ever been closed was during the Third Shinobi War when some battles were too close to the village, or when there was an invasion force heading their way, or between eight in the evening and six in the morning.

'And the other reason would be if there is a battle drill,' Asuma thought to himself as he looked back towards the Hokage Tower, 'it's way past six in the morning, and there's no ongoing war at the moment. So this has to be a battle drill,' Asuma then turned back towards the gates, 'but even then, the Jonin are told about the drills before-hand so that we can adjust our mission timings.'

Frowning, Asuma was sure that their mission would now be, at the very least, be postponed. He looked down at his Genin and told them they were facing a battle drill and would have duties assigned to them.

"The three of you get back to the Hokage Tower and get…"

It was just then that Asuma saw Neko shunshining away overhead in the direction of the hospital, and then he saw several other Anbu making their way in various directions over the rooftops. At first, he didn't think anything of it; after all, the Hokage had the right to stage battle-drills at any time she wanted. However, it was still unusual for the Jonin in the village to not have been notified earlier. He looked over at Shikamaru who was just rubbing the back of his neck while yawning.

Asuma knew that the chuunin's were not told of the protocols regarding battle drills since it was the Jonins and the Special Jonins who were supposed to take command. But again, the Jonin commander, Nara Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, was the one who was supposed to notify the Jonin, and then the Jonin would notify the Chuunin so that they would be prepared. And again, nothing like that happened.

It was very unusual. Asuma looked back towards the Hokage Tower and wondered if there was something wrong. Either way, he had to get into drill mode as he ordered his team to head back to the Hokage Tower for orders while he went on to meet with Shikaku.

"If there are no orders, then go home and stay there, I'll give you the all clear to meet once this drill is finished," Asuma commanded before his team turned around and rushed towards the tower. Asuma then turned around towards the closed gates and wondered, 'what's going on? The Anbu are in a search pattern, then there is this sudden battle drill, and then…' Asuma narrowed his eyes at a familiar dog before it shunshined away, 'and if I'm not mistaken, that was Pakkun sniffing the air.'

Thinking it would be best to get briefed by Shikaku about what was happening, Asuma couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Shaking his head, the Jonin shunshined away telling himself that it was just his imagination.

 **Konoha Hospital.**

It had been five minutes since Naruto's body was wheeled into room 5A. Tsunade was the last to rush inside, but not before telling Kakashi and Gai to stay out in the waiting room until they received news from the Ninja Dogs, She then turned to the two Anbu guards standing on either side of the door, "Owl, go down to the morgue and wait for the Elders. Inform them I'll be talking to them through a secure connection from the operating theatre,"

"Understood, Hokage-sama," the Anbu known as Owl said before vanishing in a swirl of dust.

"Rabbit," the Hokage gruffly said turning to the second Anbu, "stay out here."

Rabbit nodded his head. Tsunade then turned towards Kakashi and Gai, and bit her lower lip before saying, "I'll have to see the kind of damage that's already been done. Healing him is going to be tough, he's already dead. The mystical palm technique works on those who are alive… so I'll have to go in and physically reconnect his main arteries. I.." Tsunade then sighed, "I'll have to use every bit of my knowledge and the technology at my disposal. I'll do everything I can to make sure we get him back. But this isn't going to be a 'touch and go' situation. This is going to be something that is near impossible…"

Tsunade looked away from the look of sorrow on Kakashi's face before looking over her shoulder and saying, "Rabbit, forget my previous orders. Jiraiya should still be in the village, find him. Check all the Onsen's… and then get him here. Tell him… tell him that Naruto needs him now more than ever. Tell him to head down to the morgue immediately."

"Hai," Rabbit nodded his head before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Tsunade sighed before she turned back towards Kakashi and Gai.

"If I'm not out of there within the day, that doesn't mean anything," Tsunade said, her eyes shifting down towards the floor for a few seconds with a look of sorrow at the thought of the boy who brought her to Konoha. She took in a deep breath before her eyes shifted up towards Kakashi and then to Gai, and back to Kakashi, "after talking with the Elders and Jiraiya, I'll be locking down this entire floor. Only medical staff will be allowed in." She then looked up at Kakashi, "I'll do my best, Kakashi. Gai."

The two Jonin nodded their heads.

"But prepare for the worst," Tsunade-sama whispered before she walked into the room, slamming the door behind her. Watching the door slam shut, Kakashi and Gai took in a deep breath as they stood in the hallway. The lights from above reflected against the dull red of the dried blood that was on Kakashi's arms and Jonin vest, the smell from said blood wafted through the empty hallway as the two of them spent the next few minutes staring at the closed door.

Gai glanced at Kakashi when the latter whispered, "so many people hated him for something that wasn't his fault. So many avoided him, ostracized him, scolded him… but he didn't falter, it pushed him."

"Tsunade-sama's the best medic in the world, Kakashi," Gai said, his hand now on Kakashi's shoulder, "he's in good hands.'

"And yet, no one dared hurt him because of the Sandaime's law," Kakashi said ignoring Gai's words of reassurance that Naruto was in good hands, "if anyone tried, then Anbu would sweep in. And that happened only once. For years he was left alone and… and now…" Kakashi looked to the floor, Gai pressed his lips together as he remembered the broken Kakashi who used to walk down the Konoha streets alone after the deaths of Obito, Rin, and the Yondaime. The Kakashi who Guy was seeing now was a reflection of that younger Kakashi as the latter continued, "and now, after he saved the village. After many villagers acknowledged him as the hero he should have been always been acknowledged as… he was murdered."

"I have faith that Tsunade-sama would be able to save him," Gai said, "and you have faith as well or you would not have brought Naruto to her."

"I have faith she would be able to save him, Gai," Kakashi whispered as he imagined the blood on Naruto's bed and on the floor, "but you didn't see his room… there was so much blood. Even with the two chakra sources keeping his heart and brain alive, I… I'm scared that the Naruto…" Kakashi stopped talking as he shook his head, unable to finish the thought that even if Tsunade would be able to save his life, the Naruto who would survive may not be the same one they had known.

"You have two other students, Kakashi," Gai reminded him, "they will need you too today. Come, while the Anbu search for Uchiha Sasuke, let us inform Haruno Sakura." Gai gently squeezed Kakashi's shoulder, "at a time like this, you need people who care around you." Kakashi nodded his head as the two of them walked through the hallway towards the elevators. They were going to go inform Sakura of what happened to Naruto.

"I need to go wash this blood off my arms and change my clothes," Kakashi whispered as the two of them stepped into the elevator, "I'll notify Sakura after that. I just hope the Anbu find Sasuke soon."

Gai nodded his head as the elevator travelled down to the ground floor. The doors opened before the two of them walked out into the crowded lobby where many civilians and shinobi were waiting for their appointments with doctors and specialists. It would be just as the two of them exited the lobby out the front doors that Pakkun landed in front of the two Jonin.

"Kakashi," Pakkun looked up at Kakashi, "I have a trail." Gai and Kakashi looked at each other, and then to Pakkun. The masked Jonin put the need to change his clothes to the back of his mind, capturing the man who killed Naruto was of more importance now.

"Let's go."

While Kakashi, Gai, and Pakkun took off, Neko had reached Bear's location and told him about the bodies near the Eastern Wall. She said that the enemy, whoever it was, could have beaten the guards and then slipped through the reduced security on that part of the wall so that they could kill Naruto. She hypothesised that the enemy, possibly Oto-nin and based on the fact that Anbu were not able to still find Sasuke, could have taken Sasuke after killing Naruto, "and they could be long gone if they escaped using the same route they used to infiltrate the village."

Bear nodded his head before saying, "I'll inform the Hokage. In the meantime, continue search pattern Alpha… until we have confirmation of your theory, we have to believe Uchiha Sasuke is hiding for some unknown reason in the village."

Neko nodded her head before vanishing, leaving a cloud of dust behind her.

 **The Haruno home.**

Sakura snapped her eyes opened after an uneasy sleep. She was twisting and turning on her bed, waking up nearly every hour before trying to go back to some semblance of sleep. But once she did, she'd have the same nightmare against and again; she was standing over Naruto... the blonde on his knees while she grabbed his hair with one hand and the other holding a kunai. The point of the sharp blade only just touching his skin under his ear and behind the jaw.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto in her nightmare would say in a quaking voice, the boy's body was trembling, he was unable to move because of who was prepared to kill him, "why?"

And in her nightmare, Sakura would always answer, "for Sasuke-kun, Naruto. You have to die so that I can be with him." And Sakura would snap her eyes open just after she pushed the kunai into his neck just as blood gushed out like a fountain. And her heart would always be beating hard and fast when she got up, her hand on her chest while she was panting. Pink hair covered her forehead and her eyes as her bottom lip trembled while remembering the look of hurt and betrayal in Naruto's eyes.

"Naruto," she whispered, closing her eyes as tears streamed down again for the umpteenth time that morning, "forgive me, please. Forgive me." Opening her eyes as she wiped her nose, Sakura looked out at the curtains that had covered her windows. She then turned around away from the curtains, her body heavy at this feeling of overwhelming guilt, and then simply sat at the edge of her bed while her feet were flat against her carpet.

There was a part of her insisting that she just stay at home and sleep, that she needed to sleep. She may not deserve it, but it was required if she didn't want to put herself and Kakashi in danger when the Hokage assigned two new Genin to Team Seven. She wasn't even sure if Team Seven would be broken up and Sakura reassigned to another team.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura remembered the plan. She needed to meet with Kakashi at the bridge before they went in search of their teammates. She got off the bed and shuffled her feet on the carpet as she made her way to the restroom. Turning on the light, Sakura stepped back and gasped in surprise when she saw Naruto standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"No," Sakura whispered, closing her eyes while she shook her head, "no."

" _Come on, Haruno,"_ Naruto's voice spoke while dashing forward before whispering into her left ear. Sakura spun away, her feet sliding on the carpet, " _I'm gonna be in your head. I will see you naked, 'ttebayo. Whether you like it or not."_

Sakura closed her eyes and shook her head, "not now. Please… not now?"

" _You can't stop me, Haruno,"_ Naruto chuckled as Sakura opened her eyes to look into his own pale blue orbs, _"you know why you can't."_ As Sakura looked on, the word 'guilt' formed on Naruto's forehead as he grinned before saying, while pointing at the word that just formed on his forehead, _"because if you forget what you did to me, then it already makes you the cruellest monster of them all."_

"I am guilty," Sakura looked away from Naruto while she whispered, "I… I can't stop… I don't think I can… stop feeling guilty."

" _Then tell Tsunade what you did,"_ Naruto said, " _tell her what you did and accept your punishment."_

"It won't take away the guilt I feel," Sakura whispered looking back at Naruto with sorrow in her eyes, "you'll still… still be there…"

" _Of course, I'm going to be here, Haruno,"_ Naruto smirked, " _like I said, you can never get rid of me."_ He then looked over his shoulder at the washroom, and then back at Sakura, " _well then, I think it's time we took a shower together, don't you think?"_

Sakura's hands trembled as she slowly took off her pyjama's, her eyes closed as the part of her guilt manifesting as Naruto looked on with a sneer. She gulped, the cool air circulating in her room brushing against her skin, before she opened her eyes and saw that there was no one standing in front of her.

" _It's okay, Sakura,"_ her Inner Voice whispered reassuringly as Sakura breathed a sigh of relief before a sob was forced through her lips, " _I've kept the guilt away, for now. I'll do all I can, Sakura, but… but I don't know what else to do."_

"I… I know that Tsunade-sama… I know I need to tell Tsunade-sama… but I… I'm afraid," Sakura whispered as she leaned back against a wall with the door to the washroom on her left side, "I'm so scared of what she'll say or do, or… oh God…" Sakura covered her mouth with her hands as her shoulders trembled while tears fell down her cheeks while thinking to herself, 'the penalty for killing a shinobi from the same village is death. I… I killed Naruto… I… I knew Sasuke-kun left the village and said nothing…' Sakura closed her eyes tight as she imagined the look on Kakashi and Tsunade's face, she imagined the faces in all the Genin in her graduating class as they stared back at her in disgust.

And she faltered, 'I… I can't… I can't…'

As Sakura slipped down onto her carpet, her back still against the wall, she was unaware that Pakkun landed at the front entrance to the Haruno's apartment building. Behind him, both Gai and Kakashi landed, the latter immediately staring up at the familiar building in surprise as Pakkun proceeded to sniff the stairs that led to the first floor.

"Kakashi?" Gai asked upon noticing the masked ninja's surprised look while Pakkun said that he smelled blood. Gai eyed Kakashi, who was staring up the stairs, before making his way to the front stoop where Pakkun used his paw to point out small drops of blood on the fourth and sixth step of the stairs. Gai crouched down and stared at the red drops before he brushed his finger against one of the spots that looked like dried paint. He then brought it up to his nose and sniffed before turning his head towards Kakashi, "it's blood."

However, Kakashi didn't answer. He stared up the stairs.

"Kakashi?"

"This… this is Sakura's apartment complex," Kakashi whispered as he looked back down at Gai who was shaking his head.

"That is just not right," Gai said as he got up and placed his hands on his friend's shoulders, "whoever killed Naruto lives in the same building as his teammate." Gai sighed before placing his hand on Kakashi's shoulder and saying, "we must continue on, Kakashi. We'll find out who killed Naruto and then we'll tell Sakura. That would be best."

The person who lived in Sakura's apartment complex killed Naruto. Kakashi wondered if this was just a cosmically cruel joke, that the man who killed the son of his sensei lived in the very same building as their teammate. Kakashi rolled his hands into fists, the image of Naruto lying in a pool of blood was making it difficult to control the anger that was just boiling under the surface. He mentally told himself that whoever killed him used a lot of strength, and channelled a lot of hate. And extreme amount of hate to be able to do what was done to the blonde.

There were a lot of suspects who hated Naruto… but Kakashi wholeheartedly believed that things started to change after the Sand-Sound Invasion, especially after it was revealed that Naruto was the one who defeated Gaara and protected the village. However, the hate still remained.

'Gai's right,' Kakashi thought, 'the person who killed Naruto lives in the building. We'll apprehend him, and then I'll talk to Sakura.' The masked Jonin new that Sakura wasn't too fond of the blonde member of Team seven, 'and that was just because she was more focused on making Sasuke happy. But still, I know Sakura cares for Naruto's well-being… they've been in the same team for a while already so…' Kakashi took in a deep breath, 'I promised you that everything was going to be okay back at the hospital roof, and I try to keep my promises, Sakura. Everything is going to be okay.'

Kakashi took another deep breath before nodding his head as Gai placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. The two of them then told Pakkun to take the lead. They followed the dog up the stairs to the first floor, and then the second floor, and then the third floor. Kakashi, Gai, and Pakkun were heading towards the door leading to Sakura's apartment.'

And Pakkun stopped at the door to the Haruno home.

'Please…. Please don't tell me that… no… I should stop this chain of thought. Sakura may not like Naruto... and yes he can be annoying and a loudmouth… but there's no way that anyone… especially anyone on our team could…'

Pakkun stopped at the door to the Haruno home.

'No.'

Pakkun looked up at Kakashi and Guy before pointing at the door, "the scent of blood leads me here, Kakashi."

'NO!'

Kakashi closed his eyes as he leaned back against the staircase's bannister, his body trembling with a mixture of emotions before opening his eyes once again. He was staring at the door as he recalled being invited into the Haruno home by Sakura's mother and father the day of the team assignments. He and the Sandaime came to visit the civilian parents, and the two of them were brought in for some tea and sweets.

'I'm back here again,' he thought before his eye caught Gai staring back at him. Kakashi then gulped before whispering, "this is Sakura's home." He saw Gai open his eyes wide before the two of them watched Pakkun open his eyes wide as well.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi," a surprised Pakkun said, "I can smell three scents… one is from a single individual, and the other two… including the scent of Naruto's blood, is from a single individual on the other side of the door."

"Could it have been the parents?" Kakashi whispered.

"Kakashi," Gai whispered, "I can take care of this. You should go to the hospital and check in with Hokage-sama. I'll take…"

"It has to be me," Kakashi whispered, his heart breaking at the potential destruction of his team – one member was killed, the other one suspected of the crime, 'or it could be one of her parents…', and another one missing. 'Please let this be some kind of a sick mistake. Please Gods let this be a mistake.'

Kakashi took several steps forward before knocking on the door. The group waited as footsteps from the other side of the door walked up, twisted the knob, and the two Jonin and the nin-dog stared at the light blonde haired Haruno Mebuki, "Kakashi-san?"

"She's not the one, Kakashi, I'm not getting the second scent from her," Pakkun whispered as a surprised Mebuki looked down towards the talking dog before looking up at the stone faced Gai, and then back to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-san, this is a surprise, is everything…"

"We need to talk to Sakura, Haruno-san," Kakashi said in a voice that was threatening to break, "we need to talk to her now."

Sakura, still leaned back against the wall in her room, froze upon hearing the voice of her Sensei. She knew it was too soon, they were supposed to meet later on after breakfast. They were supposed to meet at ten for their training session; this was too soon.

'No,' Sakura thought as tears streamed down her face upon realizing that something must have changed the schedule. She wanted to hide… she wanted to be as still as a mouse… but that hope was smashed when her mother called out to Sakura while stepping aside at the front door to let in Kakashi, Gai, and Pakkun. Sakura then heard a bark before realizing that Kakashi must have used his nin-dogs to search for the scent of Naruto's blood. Sakura quickly got up and rushed to lock her door before stepping back just as she heard the sounds of paws scratching on the door.

She began sobbing as her arms wrapped around her pink robe, tying the tie around her tightly. She was stepping back every time she heard footsteps rushing towards her door.

"Kakashi-san," Sakura heard the panicked voice of Haruno Mebuki, her mother, on the other side of the door, "Kakashi-san, what is it? What's going on?"

There wasn't a response as the footsteps ended right outside her door. Sakura was silently sobbing as she looked over at her closet, and realized that she hadn't washed her blouse from the previous night. She had found some blood stains on the front, but decided it would be best to wash it the next morning since her parents, bakers by trade, were due to head out around five in the morning. So it was a surprise for Sakura to hear her mother's voice at just after nine in the morning, 'dad must have already gone out… why… why is she..'

Tears streamed down her face as she silently sobbed while hearing a knock on the door, followed a familiar voice that was, at the same time, not familiar at all. It was a voice filled with pain, anger, and sorrow.

"Sakura," the aforementioned Sakura fell onto her knees sobbing upon hearing Kakashi's voice, her hands over her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks, "open the door, please. I… I know… I know… I saw the body."

" _Well, well, murderer,"_ Naruto said leaning against the wall as he stared at the sobbing girl _, "what do you know? Kakashi-sensei's here, looks like your plan's going down the dirt, huh?"_ Sakura sobbed shaking her head as she slowly struggled to stand back up on trembling feet, " _kill yourself to escape what's coming, Haruno. Kill yourself, you monster!"_

"Kakashi-san," Mebuki said, her voice now cracking with fear, "please… someone tell me what is going on? Sakura! Sakura! What's going on?"

"Sakura-san," Sakura looked away from the door upon hearing Gai's voice, "please, you need to open the door or we'll be forced to break it down." Sakura, upon hearing that, got back up onto her feet quickly and then rushed to her desk. Still crying, and her vision blurred from the tears, she picked up a piece of paper and then grabbed a pen.

"Sakura, I'm giving you until the count of four," Kakashi said, "I… I want to know why? I want to know… please… I need to know why you killed him."

"Who!" Mebuki cried out in anguish from the other side of the door, "who did Sakura kill! Sakura, please come out so that we can fix this. Please…"

"There's no fixing this!" Sakura yelled out between sobs, her voice broken as she wrote something on the paper. Sakura sobbed loudly as the tip of her pen was dragging against the rough paper, "there's no fixing this!" she sobbed out while writing out a message.

 _Sasuke-kun left the village. Heading for Orochimaru. I wanted to go with Sasuke-kun. To prove that I would follow him, he told me to kill Naruto._

 _I killed Naruto. I know I will not be forgiven for this, and I don't deserve it._

 _I only hope that he can forgive me in the next life._

 _I am sorry, mom. I am sorry, daddy. I am sorry Kakashi-sensei._

After having finished writing what she wanted to write, Sakura rushed to her closet, opened the doors, and then reached for her hip pack. She unzipped it and reached in to grab a kunai just as the door to her room was smashed open. She dropped the pack and spun the Kunai in her hand so that the blade was pointed towards her chest. Kakashi was the first one to rush inside just as she was about to plunge the pointed end of the Kunai into her chest. However, Kakashi was faster.

He grabbed the hand holding the Kunai just as Gai and Mebuki rushed into the room. They saw Kakashi push down the arm holding the Kunai while squeezing Sakura's wrist in such a way that her fingers let go of the weapon after her arms was put onto the side. The Kunai fell onto the carpet just as Kakashi brought his left lower arm against her neck and slammed her against the curtain covered window behind her.

He was panting as he stared into the tearful yes of the Genin girl, her breathing shallow as he leaned into the arm placed across her neck.

"Kakashi!"

"Kakashi-san, please stop!"

"Kakashi!"

"Please stop! I'm begging you!" Mebuki begged, her voice panicked.

Gai and Mebuki's voices seemed so far away as he stared into Sakura's eyes. Eyes that were full of fear and anguish, eyes that showed off her guilt as they looked back into his own. He wanted so much to push further, to lean in further. He wanted to kill her. He could now smell it… in her room… he could smell the faint stench of it.

It was Blood. Naruto's blood.

"Did you know," Kakashi growled at Sakura while he could hear Gai physically restraining Mebuki who was screaming at Kakashi for lenience for whatever it was that Sakura did. Kakashi didn't care for lenience right now, all he could see in his mind's eye was entering Naruto's room to find him dead. It didn't matter that the chakra signature of his sensei and the woman he called Onee-chan were found in his body, what mattered was that Naruto was dead.

There was no guarantee of bringing him back to the Land of the Living.

Now all Kakashi could see was the anguish in those jade eyes as he continued, "my father was a Hatake who married a girl from the Inuzuka clan." Kakashi panted as Sakura sniffed while tears continued down her cheeks, "my nose has a sense of smell that is just as strong, maybe stronger, than Kiba's. And I can smell Naruto's blood on you, and in this room."

"It's coming from here," Pakkun solemnly said pointing towards the open closet.

"Gai," Kakashi said, looking over his shoulder as Gai was restraining a sobbing Mebuki with a look of sadness on his face. The woman was being held against the wall ear Sakura's desk with her arms twisted behind her and the front of her weeping for against the wall, "can you grab… grab… whatever it is that Pakkun found?"

Gai looked back at his friend and nodded his head before looking back at the back of Mebuki's head, "please, Haruno-san, don't make it harder for your daughter than it already is. Don't… don't make it harder for any of us." Gai slowly let the sobbing woman go after she nodded her head. She turned around and leaned back against the wall, she placed her hands over her mouth while whispering between sobs at Sakura.

"What did you do? Oh God, Sakura, what did you do?" She was crying as Sakura closed her eyes and sobbed while Gai walked past Kakashi's back and crouched down as Pakkun pulled out a blood stained blouse. Gai stared at the blood on the blouse as he stood up before turning to Sakura.

"Why?" Gai asked the only question running through his mind. He stared back at the blouse in his hand before looking back up at Sakura who had her eyes closed and was sobbing. Gai knew that would be the very question his students would be asking him when he would have to inform them of what happened. He didn't have an answer. And from the way that Sakura was crying, he guessed that she didn't have a good answer why she killed Naruto.

'And it is a murder,' Gai thought to himself as he glanced at the panting Kakashi who looked as if he would break the pink haired girl's neck at any moment, 'the boy is for all intents and purposes dead.' Gai closed his eyes and shook his head at the absurdity of it all.

"Sensei…" Mebuki muttered. Gai was the first to looked away towards Mebuki who was reading something in her hand before looking up to stare at Sakura with a gaping mouth. As tears streamed down her face, Mebuki continued with shock evident in her voice, "Sakura… Sakura why? Why did you…? Why…?"

Mebuki dropped the piece of paper on the carpet before she stumbled back and cried with her back leaning against the wall, "my God, Sakura… why? What have you done? Do… do… do you know what…"

"Kakashi," Gain whispered into his friend's ear, "I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, but the Hokage needs to know that Sakura was the one responsible. The village is on unnecessary lock-down." Gai then walked towards the piece of paper which fell from Mebuki's hand while Kakashi, who didn't say a word, continued glaring into Sakura's eyes. In the meantime, standing over the piece of paper, Gai glanced at the crying Mebuki who was sitting on the carpeted floor, her forearm covering her eyes as she sobbed.

He felt sorry for the mother before crouching down and then picking up the paper. Gai turned the paper over, and then read what would have been a suicide note. As he read it, Gai's eyes widened before he stood up and turned around. He rushed to Kakashi while staring at Sakura, "when? When did he leave?"

Still nothing from Kakashi as he glared at Sakura while leaning slightly forward, the girl opened her mouth as she struggled for breath. Gai grabbed Kakashi's arm, telling him that it was the Hokage's job to pass judgement on Sakura before he turned his head towards the girl.

Guy's voice took on a sharper edge as he asked, "which way did Uchiha Sasuke leave the village? And when?"

"What?" Kakashi hissed, turning his head towards Gai who was staring at Sakura. He looked down towards the paper being held out towards him and then read the lines written in Sakura's handwriting. Kakashi then snapped his head towards Sakura and said, anger in his voice, "you… you…"

"If Sasuke has left the village, then he already has a good lead on us, Kakashi," Gai said, "I'll take Sakura to the cells in the Hokage Tower, you need to go to the Hokage with this and…"

"Sasuke told you to kill him?" Kakashi was panting as he glared at Sakura, "and… and… and YOU SAID YES?"

"I'm sorry…. I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry," Sakura whispered as she tried to fight for every breath as Kakashi pressed his arm into her throat. Gai and Kakashi could see that her eyes were nearly bulging as she gurgled out, "I… I'm sorry."

"Kakashi!" Gai said when he saw Kakashi about to crush her throat with his arm, "he's a member of your team. For now, so is Sakura."

"Murderer…" Kakashi hissed as tears fell down his mask while glaring at Sakura, "you…"

"Kakashi! THE BOY HAS TURNED TRAITOR AND YOU NEED TO INFORM THE HOKAGE!" Gai exclaimed trying to get Kakashi's head back into the present as he grabbed the man's arms and pushed him away, and off of Sakura who was now panting as she fell onto her knees.

Gai stood in front of the panting Kakashi, blocking Sakura as the grey haired Shinobi stared at Gai, "Kakashi, the Hokage needs to know what happened. I'll take Sakura to the cells, and you inform the Hokage." Gai stared into Kakashi's eyes and took in a deep breath before saying, "please, Kakashi. The Hokage's the one who is supposed to judge Sakura, not you or me."

Kakashi glared at Gai for another second before he turned, his eyes seemingly dazed for a few moments, before he vanished in a swirl of leaves. Gai sighed before turning back towards the crying mother and then to the sobbing Sakura who was in her knees with her head bowed.

Gai didn't know what to say – after all what could one say at a time like this. All he knew was that he was worried about Kakashi – Gai was afraid that the Copy Ninja was about to crash and burn again. Kakashi was the only survivor of his own Team Seven following the deaths of Obito, Rin, and the Yondaime; and now, once again, he was the only survivor of his team with Naruto dead, Sakura a murderer, and Sasuke a traitor.

"The team seven name is cursed," Gai whispered as Sakura slowly looked back up with puffy eyes and a red face. Gai shook his head before telling Sakura to get to her feet, "stand up." Sakura sniffed and that's what she did. She stood up to her feet before stepping forward and placing his hand on her left shoulder, "I don't know what was going through your head, and…"

"I… I loved him…" Sakura whispered as she wiped tears that were soon replaced by fresh tears, "he…" Sakura looked over at her crying mother, and her face twisted in anguish before looking back down onto her carpet, "he was going to leave Konoha and… and I even offered to go with him and… and he told me that I… I had to kill… kill Naruto. And…" Sakura stopped talking as she sobbed again, talking between breathes, "I… I… did… Oh God… I killed… killed…" Sakura broke down as she fell onto her knees once again.

Gai had to bend down, hold onto her shoulders, before looking in Mebuki's direction, "I'm taking her to the cells in the Hokage Tower. You will be notified of what will happen." And then Gai and Sakura were gone, leaving Mebuki sobbing in the room by herself at the turn her family's life had taken.

TBC.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kakashi; now.**

Kakashi was in a daze as he took one step after another down the stairs. His feet landed on each step with a 'thud' while his right hand remained on the railing so that he could keep his balance. He felt as if he wasn't in control of his body... he felt as if he was just a passenger and that he was letting his body move on instinct alone. He felt the crumbled piece of paper in his left hand as he recalled what was written on it; that Sakura admitted to killing Naruto because Sasuke told her to and that the last supposedly loyal Uchiha had left the village to join Orochimaru.

'I failed,' Kakashi thought as he continued down the stairs, 'I failed Naruto, I failed Sasuke, and I failed Sakura. I failed them all.' He wondered what his Sensei would say if the latter was walking alongside him, 'Minato Sensei would be disappointed… so disappointed.' He didn't want to glance to his left in the event that a ghost of his Sensei was walking next to him with a look that transmitted his disappointment.

As Kakashi reached the landing on the second floor, a part of him felt hopeful that the chakra from both Kushina and Minato would sustain Naruto until Tsunade could return him to the land of the living.

Kakashi then told himself that the chances of that happening were astronomical. Naruto was dead… and the dead remained dead. He continued on down the stairs from the landing, his very sense of self feeling as if it was going lower and lower into a deep dark pit while feeling his body forcing itself onwards.

Taking one breath after another, Kakashi could feel his heart race as he recalled seeing Naruto's dead body on the bed. And then he saw Sakura's face in his mind. He saw himself jerking his arm forward into her throat before a sickening crack could be heard as Sakura's eyes turned blood red and she stopped breathing. In his mind, he saw himself stepping back, his arm coming off Sakura's throat before she crumbled to the floor lifelessly while her mother screamed out in anguish.

In his mind, Kakashi knew if he had followed that particular course of action, then he would feel no regrets.

Stepping down the stairs to the first floor, Kakashi breathed in and out… in and out… in and out. He glanced down at the blood covering his arms, a constant reminder of his own failures. A failure to show Sasuke that the strength he needed was in the village – that having people to protect via the bonds he developed with Team Seven and the other rookies would have aided him in defeating Itachi. Then there was Sakura – Kakashi was going to ask Tsunade to teach the Kunoichi medical jutsu given that she had excellent chakra control. And Naruto – Kakashi stopped walking and tightened his grip around the railing with his trembling hand as he thought about the boy.

'I already decided that… that after the Chuunin exams I would help train him… give him the attention he needed…' Kakashi starting walking on trembling legs, the only thing keeping him from not falling was his grip on the banister to his right, 'I gave Sasuke the Chidori to protect himself and his friends but…' Kakashi stopped walking down the stairs, 'he left… he abandoned the village. He told Sakura to kill… he wanted Naruto killed… he…'

Underneath the mask, Kakashi gritted his teeth as the grip of his fingers around the bannister tightened, 'he wanted Naruto killed. He wanted…'

"Kakashi."

Kakashi shook his head before looking down at Pakkun. He was so out of it that he simply wasn't aware that the nin-dog was next to him. He looked down, grief showing in his eyes as he looked at Pakkun who was looking back up at him. The dog's expression, as far as he could tell, was of sadness and grief as well. Kakashi looked away as Pakkun then continued, "Gai took Sakura away, I thought you'd have left already."

The silver haired ninja just stood there, his head moving away from looking down at Pakkun whose lips were pressed together. Kakashi knew that his nin-dog was right, he needed to leave for the hospital… he needed to get news to Tsunade that their theories were wrong, that it wasn't some stranger who wanted Naruto dead. Instead, it was one of his teammates who wanted him dead before leaving the village, and that person had told their other teammate – one that obsessed over him – to kill Naruto.

'My failure,' Kakashi thought at the fact that he had never touched on Sakura's unhealthy focus on Sasuke – especially at the beginning, when their Team was first formed. Maybe if he had, then this may not have happened.

'It's too late now,' Kakashi thought to himself.

Taking another deep breath, Kakashi once again slowly walked down the steps while his entire body was trembling due to a mixture of emotions. Once he reached the landing on the first floor, he began walking down the stairs towards the ground floor and the street outside the apartment complex. Once he and Pakkun stepped out onto the middle of the street and the warmth from the sun hit their bodies, Kakashi turned and looked up towards Sakura's window from where he could hear muffled sobs from Mebuki.

Looking away, Kakashi sighed and was about to leap up to the nearest roof when another of his nin-dogs landed in front of him. The man stared at the black leather object with patches of grey in the mouth of the dog before he crouched down and reached out with his open hand. The dog dropped what Kakashi discovered was a kunai holster into his palm. He stared at the leather finishing while the dog, Bull, was saying that he tracked the scent of blood up a street and into a construction site where the holster was resting on a table of other tools.

It was then Kakashi focused on the patches of grey on the damp holster and discovered it was partially dried cement, 'Sakura must have tried burying this in the construction site, but the rain must have kept the cement mix wet.' Kakashi shook his head. He didn't want to think about Sakura as he stood up while Pakkun walked over to Bull and whispered about what happened.

Kakashi shifted his eyes towards Bull when the latter yelped out in surprise at who was responsible for death of Naruto. The dog looked up at him… and whined when Kakashi nodded his head. Kakashi then looked back down at the holster, and then taking a deep breath, pulled out the kunai which still had dried blood on the blade.

And his mind immediately went to Naruto's pale lifeless body and the spatter of blood on the window. He thought of the blood pooled on the bed and the floor. "This was what Sakura used to kill him," Kakashi whispered glancing down at Pakkun before his eyes shifted back towards the Kunai in his hand, "after I talk to the Hokage, I'll be calling on you again." Kakashi's eye shifted towards Pakkun, "after I get something with Sasuke's scent…" Kakashi's voice then turned to a growl, "we're going to find him. And dead or alive, I'm bringing him back here."

Pakkun and Bull nodded their heads before vanishing in puffs of smoke. Once they were gone, Kakashi looked back at the Kunai in his hands and then leapt up towards the nearest roof before making his way to the hospital.

It would be many minutes later that he made it to the hospital. And just as he appeared on the roof, so did Neko. The two looked at each other for a few seconds; Kakashi could see that she was in a hurry, and wondered if she had found out anything. He saw her eyes through the slits in the ceramic mask glance at the kunai in his hand before her body tensed.

"Senpai," she whispered, "the kunai…"

"Did you find anything?" Kakashi asked, ignoring the question his former junior in the Anbu was about to ask.

"The possible directions the boy's killers might have taken," she said, her focus back on Kakashi's hardened face, "I have spoken to Bear, and we agree that it is very possible that enemy ninjas could have sneaked into Konoha." Kakashi listened as she continued, "as the boy's identity as the Kyuubi container was classified, we believe that it would have to be someone who knew his identity. We believe it was Oto-nin under the command of Orochimaru who killed him and, given we have yet to find Genin Uchiha Sasuke, we believe he was kidnapped after the murder."

Kakashi ground his teeth as he stared at the Kunai in his hand. He mentally told himself that Neko and Bear's suspicions of what happened made sense. However, Kakashi knew the truth. He gripped the Kunai tight before looking up at Neko, "we need to see the Hokage, not everything is as it seems."

 **Jiraiya; several minutes before Kakashi's confrontation with Sakura.**

Once he was told by the rabbit-masked Anbu that Tsunade needed to talk to him in the morgue and that the subject of their conversation was about Naruto, Jiraiya balked. Until he heard Naruto's name, he was partly ignoring the Anbu while spying on the women in the nearby hot springs. But upon hearing Naruto's name and the location of the meet with Tsunade, Jiraiya dropped the binoculars onto the floor of the roof.

"Why the morgue?" he asked. The man who called himself a super-pervert had a serious look on his face as he spoke with a measured tone, "What happened?" Jiraiya then glanced in the direction of Naruto's home, and then back to the Anbu in front of him before repeating his last question, "What happened?"

"The Hokage will explain, Jiraiya-sama," the masked Anbu said, the male behind the mask doing his best to resist the waves of killer intent that was coming off Jiraiya, "please, you will be told of everything at the morgue."

Jiraiya pulled back on his emotions and looked away from the Anbu. He crossed his arms over his chest before nodding his head. As the Anbu shunshined away, Jiraiya noticed that the gates were shut. Looking away, a stray thought formed in his mind, a thought that made a chill go through his entire body.

'Did something happen to Naruto?' Jiraiya wondered as his eyes glanced at the closed gates once again, and then towards the hospital as he changed direction towards that building, 'was he badly injured during training? What happened? Why the morgue?' He pushed aside any thought that Naruto could have been killed; he knew that the villagers hated Naruto and that they avoided him whenever they could, even handing down their dislike of the blonde to their children. However, he made friends despite everything going against him from the moment he was born. And now, Naruto was spoken of in better terms due to his actions during the Sand-Sound invasion.

'So why the morgue? Why meet there….' Jiraiya glanced at the gates to his left once again as he leapt from one roof to another, 'unless he was attacked. The only reason for the gates to close in the day would be for a drill… and there's been no advanced notice from Tsunade about such a drill.'

Jiraiya's thoughts went back to the reason behind having the meeting in the morgue. He could not comprehend the thought of Naruto dying; instead, he mentally told himself that whoever attacked Naruto must be in the village and that Tsunade wanted to meet in the morgue due to the place being one of the most secure in the village, 'Tsunade must be taking care of Naruto in the hospital. That has to be the reason; maybe he was injured by an unknown party and Tsunade needs to fix him up.'

A chill went up Jiraiya's spine. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he could not explain. He knew that there was something awful he was about to learn; he just hoped it wasn't going to be the loss of his godson.

'It has to be. He has to be okay.'

Jiraiya had only just met his godson, a godson he thought was long dead. And the Toad Sage did not want to lose him. As Jiraiya continued to leap from one roof to another in his rush towards the hospital, Jiraiya's mind went back to the day he was sent a message through one of the Sandaime's monkey summons.

 **Jiraiya; a week after the Kyuubi attack.**

it was a week after the death of both Minato and Kushina and the attack of the Kyuubi. Jiraiya was in Iwa to make sure that the Tsuchikage, Oonoki, wasn't about to build up his war machine once again. Jiraiya was very aware that the short old man found the surrender in the Third Shinobi World War deeply humiliating, especially since said surrender occurred after the Yellow Flash killed a thousand Iwa shinobi in only a few minutes. Ever since then, Jiraiya had been making secret trips to Iwa to ensure that they were following what they agreed to in the surrender document.

On the last day he was in Iwa, Jiraiya was informed of the Kyuubi attack – but nothing about what happened to Minato and Kushina. It was only when the shocked Sannin rushed back to Konoha that he discovered the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, seated behind the Hokage desk.

"Sensei?" Jiraiya whispered as he leaned against a window sill while standing on the shingles of the roof right outside the Hokage's office. Seeing the old man in his old Hokage robes didn't tell Jiraiya anything, 'Minato could be badly injured… that's what must have happened… he was badly injured. And Kushina… what about Kushina? Did the seal fail? Is she alive? And Naruto…. What about the baby? What about Kushina's baby?'

"Step inside, Jiraiya," the Sandaime said, the old man not even looking over his shoulder at Jiraiya. Jiraiya could hear the weariness in the old man's voice and the tensed body language as the Sandaime remained seated. Jiraiya didn't joke around with the Hokage as he usually would, instead he had an emotionless mask on his face as he stepped into the office and walked around the desk to the front. His arms hung by his sides as the Sandaime looked up at him before leaning back on the high-backed chair.

"I know you have a lot of questions," Sarutobi said, his arms resting on the top of his desk which was covered with paperwork. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath – Jiraiya knew the old man was steeling himself, and it was because of that he knew the worst had happened.

"Minato's dead, isn't he?"

Sarutobi opened his eyes and breathed out. Nodding his head, the old man then continued, "and so is Kushina."

Jiraiya closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.

"I know you have questions about the baby."

Yes, Jiraiya had questions. So many questions were swimming around in his head. But for now, his focus was on his Godson. The baby needed some kind of family in his life, especially with his parent's dead. And there was no way Jiraiya was letting the boy grow up as an orphan; absolutely no way. But before Jiraiya could say anything, Sarutobi's next words – that the baby did not make it - made him feel as if someone kicked him in the chest.

"What?!" Jiraiya exclaimed in shock, "what did you just say?"

"The baby…"

"Naruto," Jiraiya barked, his voice full of emotion at what he was just told by the Sandaime, "his name is Naruto."

"I suppose that would have to be the other baby's name," Sarutobi mumbled as he looked away from a confused Jiraiya. He reached down for the bottom drawer to his left while Jiraiya had his eyes wide open in hope that maybe there was a mistake; that perhaps Kushina and Minato were having twins.

Unknown to Jiraiya, Sarutobi already knew the baby's name from Kakashi… in fact, it was Sarutobi who needed to smoke his pipe so that his hands would stop shaking. He needed to steel himself for the lie that was already prepared, and agreed to, by himself and Kakashi.

Unknown to Jiraiya, a powerful jutsu was used to change the memories of the four Anbu who were by Sarutobi's side at the field where the Yondaime and Kushina died. Only Kakashi knew the truth, and there could not be any more people who were in on the secret. It was to keep Naruto safe; if it had gone out that the Jinchuriki was also the son of the Yondaime, then Konoha would have to deal with possible revenge attacks from Iwa and Kumo.

Sarutobi knew that Jiraiya would insist on taking Naruto with him. However, the boy was now a Jinchuuriki and he was needed to be kept in the village for his own protection. So, as much as it pained him, Sarutobi – the Sandaime Hokage – lied to the face of his former student.

Back in the Hokage office, forcing his hands to remain steady, the Sandaime took in a puff from the burning tobacco in the pipe. He instantly felt calm after breathing in the smoke, and then blowing it out a few seconds later. Looking up at the inpatient Jiraiya, Sarutobi then said, "the child was found dead, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya shook his head as he took a few steps back before turning around and making his way to the left wall. He leaned back against it and started to take in one deep breath after another while the Sandaime, whose heart was breaking at the thought of the lie he was telling his former student, continued, "Kushina used her chakra chains to hold down the Kyuubi and create a barrier around them while Minato called out to me…"

"You were there, Sensei?"

"I was," Sarutobi said before recounting to him the events before, and up to, the point that Minato asked for him to find a child… an infant… and bring him or her to him, "he and Kushina said there wasn't much time." And Sarutobi expanded on the lie, the very same lie he told the village Elders hours after the attack, "he said that he needed to create a new Jinchuriki…"

"What!" Jiraiya exclaimed. Sarutobi held up his left hand as a signal for him to finish his verbal report. A stunned Jiraiya stood still, his body tense as Sarutobi continued to speak.

"He said that Kushina was too weakened… that something had gone very wrong with the birth and the Kyuubi was released."

Jiraiya felt his heart racing while he flexed his hands before rolling them into fists.

"He said that he was going to use the Dead Demon Seal to take away part of the Kyuubi's power," the Sandaime said based on what he had seen – the Kyuubi had become much, much, smaller in size after the seal was used – so what Sarutobi was currently saying was only an educated guess on his part, "I told him that I would use the Dead Demon Seal, that the Village needed the Yondaime and that I was already too old and weary for the position."

Jiraiya heard the emotion in Sarutobi's voice who then took a puff from his pipe and breathed out while his eyes were closed. Sarutobi's arms were shaking now – the old man couldn't help it. But he knew it was just luck that Jiraiya thought the trembling arms were due to the emotions elicited by remembering the final moments of the Yondaime.

"Minato said that Kushina was already running very low on chakra. She was struggling to hold the Kyuubi with her chains," Sarutobi opened his eyes, which were wet with unshed tears. Jiraiya could see that the Sandaime was recalling that fateful night as he continued, "Minato said that she could open the barrier only a tiny fraction... enough for an infant. If she opened the barrier wider, she may not be able to close it again… in fact, she could have used up all her chakra and we would be looking at a destroyed village with the Kyuubi free."

Jiraiya shook his head, "and let me guess, Minato insisted that he couldn't risk it."

"He was your student, and a Hokage of Konoha, until the very end," Sarutobi whispered before saying that the Anbu he sent back to the village returned with an orphaned blonde haired infant, "Kushina opened the barrier… a tiny hole in front of Minato's arms. I gave him the baby and the hole closed up… I saw him weave the seals… I saw…" Jiraiya listened in horror as Sarutobi continued on – the smaller Kyuubi proceeded to attack the baby after a moment of weakness from Kushina. To protect the baby, the two of them jumped in front of the claw aimed towards the infant – the bodies of the two adults stopped its forward motion. Jiraiya froze as Sarutobi recounted the Yondaime sealing the rest of the Kyuubi into the body of the infant, and how the barrier fell as soon as Minato and Kushina fell onto the grass.

Jiraiya was staring through blurred vision as Sarutobi took another puff from his pipe and whispered, "Minato was dead by the time my Anbu and I rushed to their side… but Kushina still had breath in her."

"A hole through her chest and she's still hanging on," Jiraiya choked before releasing a chuckle, "such a stubborn woman." Jiraiya looked away from Hiruzen before asking if Kushina said anything.

"She said that she was going to meet her Naruto…" Jiraiya heard Sarutobi's voice crack before he coughed and then continued, "she whispered that the infant that was sacrificed should be given her clan name as a thanks for holding back the Kyuubi."

'A lie,' Sarutobi thought to himself, 'all a lie. But a necessary lie, Jiraiya.'

"The baby who was killed had Kushina's red hair," Sarutobi said as he got up off his seat, "this Jinchuriki will be given the family name of Uzumaki, as per Kushina's last wish… and I suppose we could honour her, Minato, and their child's sacrifice by naming this new Jinchuriki, Naruto."

Jiraiya still couldn't say anything. He was staring at Sarutobi's face for any deception, but there was none. His own heart was racing, his forehead was covered in sweat, and his body felt numb at the thought of losing the man he thought of as a surrogate son. He watched as Sarutobi walked around his desk and towards him. The old man stopped in front of him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and then asked if he could take a look at Naruto's seal.

Jiraiya nodded his head.

And it would be twenty minutes later, at the bottom of the Hokage tower, that they walked into a room where a nanny was looking after a crying, pale blonde-haired child. For a moment, the boy looked as Minato would have when he was an infant. But Jiraiya trusted his Sensei; the red-haired baby and his parents were dead. As he went on to examine the seal, Jiraiya missed the look of extreme regret on Sarutobi's face.

It would be years later that Jiraiya would return to Konoha. Unless Jiraiya was required to examine the seal, which hadn't happened, usually he would send a toad with messages for Sarutobi; however, this one message was too important to simply send in a scroll. Jiraiya arrived in Konoha a month before the final of the Chuunin exams with news that the Sand were building up their military. He told Sarutobi that the Kazekage had also been corresponding with Orochimaru, and that it was possible the two were planning on a possible attack after the exams were over; after the Sand had seen the capability of the Konoha shinobi. No one expected that the attack would happen during the Chuunin exams.

After the meeting with Sarutobi, Jiraiya went on ahead for some 'research' at the hot springs.

 **Present Day**

As he neared the hospital, Jiraiya recalled the first time he met Naruto. It was during his 'research' mission around the hot springs of Konoha.

 **A few months ago, a month before the Chuunin Exam finals.**

The boy introduced himself as Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage. Jiraiya instantly recalled the paled blonde haired infant… and mentally aged him up to the bright blonde haired, blue eyed, orange and blue clad Genin in front of him. The boy was loud, Jiraiya thought as he glanced at the unconscious Ebisu, clad all in black, who Naruto called his 'perverted teacher'.

Jiraiya then shifted his eyes back to Naruto; the boy who had an uncanny resemblance to Minato and Kushina. Outwardly, Jiraiya didn't show off any sign of surprise, inwardly though he knew that Sarutobi had better have answers for the one single question that was forming in his mind.

 **Present Day**

Jiraiya shunshined down to the brightly lit hallway just outside the morgue where there was another Anbu at the entrance. He was soon joined by the other Elders, all of them confused – even Danzo – about why they were needed at the morgue and why the gates were closed.

The Anbu could only say that Tsunade had news to tell them before opening the door to the morgue and asking them to walk inside.

As the four of them walked past the Anbu standing guard outside the door to the morgue, Jiraiya recalled confronting Sarutobi after agreeing to train the annoying blonde who looked so much like his former student.

 **Few months back, a month before the Chuunin Exam finals.**

"You lied to me!" Jiraiya yelled out in rage after the Sandaime activated the privacy seals in his office. Sarutobi was seated on his chair behind the desk staring at his student who was venting his outrage. And Jiraiya was very outraged, "I deserved to know that Naruto… Minato and Kushina's Naruto… was alive! That boy I met today… he was so much a mixture of Minato and Kushina that….." Jiraiya yelled out as he dashed towards a wall and slammed his fist onto it, "aaahhhhhh!"

Jiraiya was so livid that his body was shaking while staring at his fist which was slammed against the wall. He hadn't been back to Konoha for years, unless there was a need to examine the seal – a need that wasn't requested by the Sandaime since that very first night Jiraiya laid eyes on the pale haired baby. He hadn't seen the 'fake' Naruto as he grew up. However, Jiraiya did hear of how the village shunned him and how much they hated him. It was all in the scrolls sent by Sarutobi, but Jiraiya told himself that the boy would grow out of it and that he wasn't concerned.

'But if I knew the truth….' Jiraiya suddenly felt sick at the thought that he could have done so much for the boy.

"Are you done acting like a child?" Sarutobi whispered after smoking his pipe.

Jiraiya turned his head and glared at the Hokage, "I'm acting like a child? I just discovered that the boy you claimed a stranger is my godson! I deserved…"

"Do you believe I enjoyed lying to you?" Sarutobi said as he leaned forward, a chill in his voice, "I sent Tsunade a missive as well, telling her that Minato and Kushina died… as did their child. I… I lied to her as well."

"You…"

"What would you have done if you knew the truth?"

"I would have taken him with me," Jiraiya said as he waved his arms about, "I would have taken him… I would have raised him… I…"

"You are this villages chief spy, what…"

"I could have handled it…" Jiraiya insisted shaking his head in disbelief at this betrayal, "if I had to go on a mission, I could have left Naruto with the Toads. He would have been accepted by them as Minato's son, they would have looked after him. We would have trained him. And I would have brought him back to Konoha when it was time to enter the Academy."

It was then that Jiraiya remembered Sarutobi's letters about how Naruto was lonely and shunned. And it enraged him even more.

"I am his family!" Jiraiya roared out as Sarutobi sighed and closed his eyes, "and… and he was alone. You told me he was shunned… that he lived a lonely existence, only making friends later on in the Academy. You told me that the adults transferred their fear and hate of him to their children, and many of them avoided him too. That's what you told me!"

"I did," Sarutobi admitted.

"Then why didn't you tell me the truth!"

While Jiraiya, his fists clenched, glared at Sarutobi, the latter explained that while he disagreed with the Elders on many things, one thing they agreed on was that Naruto needed to remain in the village. That there was a chance an enemy nation could steal or kill Naruto if the latter had left with Jiraiya as an infant.

The two of them argued for a little bit longer before calming down. Sarutobi admitted that he was going to reveal the truth to Jiraiya after Naruto finished the Chuunin exams, that he hoped that Jiraiya would train him for the next step in his Ninja career. However, he didn't expect that Jiraiya would return so early, or that he would meet Naruto by chance in the village.

"What blind luck, huh," Jiraiya sarcastically said as he glared at Sarutobi.

 **Present day.**

The door to the morgue closed behind Jiraiya as the group walked towards an empty autopsy table. There was a large flat-screen attached to the tiled wall behind it that quickly turned on to reveal a profile of Tsunade in a surgical mask while she was lathering her arms over a large basin. Everyone stared confused as she turned her head towards the screen.

"What all of you are about to hear is a SSS Secret, understood?" Tsunade said, her voice hard as she turned away from the screen and focused on lathering her hands and arms.

"Tsunade," Danzo said, his bandaged body standing straight as his non-bandaged eye focused on the screen, "why are we here?"

"Do you understand? Do you understand me when I say that this is a SSS-class secret?" Tsunade hissed as a nurse helped put on her surgery gown and her gloves. Jiraiya wanted to ask if Naruto was badly injured, but his thoughts were pushed to one side when he heard Tsunade call for him, "Jiraiya, do you understand me?"

"Yes," the Toad Sage answered, "Tsunade…"

"The rest of you… do you understand? Any word leaves that room…. If our enemies find out what I am about to tell you, then I will kill all three of you with my own hands for treason."

A chill ran up and down Jiraiya's spine at the cold stare on Tsunade's face, the mask she was wearing highlighted the ice in her eyes. He glanced at the Elders, and they were confused as well. This was a Tsunade they hadn't seen before, one that was full of pent up rage. However, It was a side that Jiraiya had seen – after the deaths of Nawaki and Dan.

And Jiraiya's heart fell into his stomach as he looked at Tsunade with an expression of disbelief on his face while the Elders answered in the positive; that they would keep whatever they were about to be told a secret.

"As you know, I have ordered the gates to Konoha shut… an emergency security drill…" Tsunade said her voice cracking for a moment as she approached the screen, "last night, someone attacked Uzumaki Naruto."

'No…' Jiraiya thought as he rolled his hands into fists.

"The Jinchuuriki?" Utatane Koharu spoke, "how bad is he hurt?"

"He's dead," Tsunade said. There was silence for a few seconds as everyone tried to process what was just said. That their Jinchuriki/godson was dead. Tsunade continued on, "we do not know who is responsible, or how they knew that Naruto is the container of the Kyuubi. For that reason, it could very well have been an inside job."

"Tsuna…"

"We have not figured out a motivation for Naruto's murder," Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya, and then at the others, "all I know is that there is a slight chance… a very slight chance to revive him."

"How?" Danzo asked while the other Elders looked on, seemingly content to let Danzo ask the questions that need to be asked. However, Jiraiya could sense a sense of worry emanating from all of them when it came to Naruto's status as the Jinchuriki. Jiraiya's feelings were confirmed when Danzo continued, "and is the Kyuubi…"

"The seal is gone," Tsunade said shaking her head before continuing, this time with a voice that mirrored the turmoil she was feeling, "Jiraiya, what does it mean that the seal on Naruto's abdomen is gone?"

"A bijuu, basically a being of pure chakra, dissipates when the host dies," a stunned Jiraiya who continued staring down at the silver coloured table in front of him, the very table where autopsies would be performed, said in a pained voice, "essentially, the Bijuu dies. They then reform once again years later… could be next year, ten, twenty, or even a hundred years before the Kyuubi reforms". Jiraiya finished speaking as he stared at an imaginary image of a pale, lifeless, Naruto lying on the table in front of him; the image vanished while Jiraiya heard Tsunade speaking once again and he raised his head towards the screen.

"When I was examining his body, I discovered a strange Chakra signature," Tsunade said. Jiraiya could feel her eyes on him – their eyes then met - as she continued, "it is a very familiar signature."

"The Kyuubi?" one of the Elders asked while Danzo stood next to Jiraiya staring at the screen. Jiraiya could tell from the look Tsunade gave him before she shifted her eyes towards the others that the Hokage knew the truth about Naruto's parentage.

"Minato," Jiraiya whispered as he glanced at the surprised expressions on the others in the morgue. He still knew that Naruto's real parentage needed to be kept secret with or without the Kyuubi. The boy was an Uzumaki and a Namikaze – it was entirely possible that Danzo could have plans concerning Naruto if he knew the truth.

In addition, it was the Namikaze name alone that, if Iwa discovered Minato had a child, there could be a chance of Naruto being assassinated or kidnapped. With that thought in mind, Jiraiya continued, "think about it, it was Minato that used a powerful seal on the boy to imprison the Kyuubi. So, it is entirely possible that he could have placed some of his chakra in the seal as well…."

Before he could continue, Jiraiya was interrupted thanks to a commotion outside the door.

"Damn it, Rabbit, I need to talk to the Hokage…" Jiraiya turned his head towards the door. He heard a familiar voice saying, "I have urgent news about Naruto."

Jiraiya looked back at Tsunade who nodded her head before Jiraiya looked back towards the door and exclaimed, "Let him in!" The door opened to Kakashi and Neko rushing in, the door closing up once again behind them. Neko and Kakashi walked over to the screen, both stopping next to Jiraiya. Jiraiya could see that Neko was about to say something, but Kakashi grabbed her arm before shaking his head. Before anyone could say anything, Kakashi was the first to speak up.

"Tsunade-sama, I know who killed Naruto and why," Kakashi said before handing the crumbled note in his left hand, as well as the sheathed Kunai, to Jiraiya who took the two items with a look of confusion. After Jiraiya placed the sheathed Kunai on the table, he unfurled the note and read the contents. With trembling hands, he read each word over and over in shock; the Sannin's eyes bulging out and his jaw hanging open in shock.

Jiraiya looked back up at Kakashi before demanding, "the Uchiha told… who is this? Who wrote this letter?"

"Jiraiya" Danzo extended his hand out, signalling that Jiraiya hand him the note. In the meantime, as he handed Danzo the note, Tsunade worriedly asked Jiraiya and Kakashi what was going on. Danzo turned around and read the letter together with the other Elders; and they were shocked as well. The three Elders, Jiraiya, Neko, and Tsunade listened in stunned silence as Kakashi spoke in a cold harsh voice.

"It was Sakura."

"Saku…." Tsunade shook her head, "you mean the girl in your team, she…"

"Are you certain Sasuke is gone?"

"He must be in the village…"

Neko, over the questions from the Elders was surprised at the revelation as well, then explained what it was that she and the other Anbu found outside the walls of the village.

"Orochimaru…" Tsunade growled shaking her head, her eyes narrowed in rage, "to think that man… that snake would make his move so soon."

Before anyone could say anything, Tsunade straightened up, her jaw tightened as she spoke, "where is she? Where is Haruno Sakura?"

"Gai took her to the cells beneath the Hokage Tower."

Tsunade was fuming as she turned her head away from the monitor and towards the body lying in the large room on the other side of the washing area. After a few seconds, she looked back towards the screen, "Neko, inform Bear that the drill is lifted. I want the gates re-opened."

"Understood," Neko said, "Tsunade-sama, I have already sent a squad of Anbu to search for any signs of any ninja that could have kidnapped Uchiha Sasuke. If he indeed escaped the village with them, then we will find him."

"Kakashi," Tsunade said after nodding her head at Neko, "get whoever you need and join up with Neko's team. Find Uchiha Sasuke and bring back his traitorous head."

Tsunade glanced at the Elders. She expected them to say something, anything actually; but they remained silent. They remained watching. She suspected that Danzo could very well use this situation to capture Sasuke for himself and possibly retrain him into his Root Division. However, there was no way that Tsunade was going to allow the old man to have that much power in his hands.

Her eyes shifted back towards Jiraiya, "Go with them, Jiraiya. If Orochimaru is involved…"

Jiraiya nodded his head before growling out, "I'll have the toads sniff him out."

"And until I revise the cover story, no one reveals that Naruto has been killed," Tsunade said, "understood?"

"Understood!"

 **Tsunade**

"Disperse," Tsunade said before Neko, Jiraiya, and Kakashi were gone in swirls of dust and leaves. Only the Elders remained with Tsunade, her face red in rage, staring back at them.

"The girl has to be punished," Koharu said as she stared at the screen, "she has put this village at risk. We do not have a Jinchuuriki and…"

"Kumo and Iwa have two each," Danzo said as he stared at the sheathed Kunai before looking up at Tsunade, "we should capture one of them, and…"

"We do that," Tsunade said, "and the other villages will suspect something happened to Naruto, or at least the would wonder about the Kyuubi being in our hands. Even if we succeed in getting one of the Jinchuuriki, we will have a war, and we lost our biggest trump card." Tsunade hated thinking of Naruto as just a weapon, but that was how the Elders had always seen him; referring to him as a weapon was the best way to connect to them. And Tsunade wasn't stupid, she knew that Naruto was important to the village as its Jinchuuriki, 'and the villagers were beginning to see him as someone more too.'

However, Tsunade was the Hokage… the protector of the village… and there was no way she was going to let it be known to the other villages that their greatest weapon, the Kyuubi's container, was dead.

"The villages are out of balance," Homura said, his hand on the top of his walking stick.

"I will work on Naruto first, it's a long shot, but I think I can revive him," Tsunade said shaking her head, "I'll take care of Sakura as the next step once I've done here. In the meantime, the story…" Tsunade was making mental changes to the cover story she created in her mind the moment they entered the hospital. And now she had to make one small change – she used partial truth as the cover story while making it hidden that Sasuke defected – or rather, planned to defect, "if he lives, then the story would be that Uzumaki Naruto was viciously attacked by his teammate Haruno Sakura in his sleep and..."

From everything that Naruto told her about Sakura and from everything she read on her file, Tsunade knew the pink haired girl was smart, she had really good chakra control but low reserves of Chakra – but that could be worked on over time. However, Naruto would keep on saying, with an angry expression on his face, that Sakura was hyper-focussed on Sasuke, 'she has a deep crush on the boy. But…' Tsunade shook her head in disbelief, 'but to go so far… to be so blind to… my God, she killed her own teammate because her crush told her to, because she wanted to defect too.'

"Tsunade," Homura said. Tsunade realized she trailed off, and that Homura was trying yo gain her attention. So she shook her head again and then spoke.

"Haruno Sakura wanted to impress the Uchiha," Tsunade said, "the cover story would be that Naruto lost a lot of blood and was barely alive after the attack. That is the story. As for Sasuke, we will go after him ourselves."

"The Haruno girl must be punished, Tsunade," Danzo said.

"Sakura will be punished… severely," Tsunade continued before she turned her head to look towards the other side of the glass wall where Naruto lay on a gurney. She then looked back towards the screen and said, "and anything else will be dealt with once I'm finished here."

She stared at the Elders before saying, "dismissed."

Tsunade then turned to Naruto; she was doing everything in her power to not breakdown. It was the ultimate betrayal – Naruto was attacked by his own teammate. And it wasn't because the boy contained the Kyuubi, it was because someone had ordered it; his own teammate ordered it. Tsunade couldn't begin to understand why Sasuke had done it, but she didn't want to ask.

'Death for her is too easy,' Tsunade internally raged as she forced her body forward, 'no… I have something more… I want her to suffer. I want her to suffer every single day!'

"Let's begin," Tsunade said while another nurse closed the door leading into the operating theatre behind her.

 **Naruto**

Naruto was having such a fun dream about standing on the roof of the Hokage Tower with his Hokage robes making his first proclamation, "Tuesdays will be Ramen Day! A holiday!" He was revelling in the cheers of the people standing around him while Sakura was grabbing onto his arm – the two of them standing side by side. He had turned his head, and was about to lean in to kiss Sakura on her forehead when everything turned dark.

Suddenly, there was a sting on the side of his neck. He remembered snapping his bleary eyes open, only to see a shadow in front of him. He a sting across his neck and something warm and wet falling down the side of his neck. He tried to reach out for the shadow – instead he saw his arms flailing about all around him.

And then there was darkness.

Naruto thought he had gone to sleep again and that the sting across his neck and the shadow he saw in his room when he opened his eyes was a dream.

But now he wasn't dreaming. It was just darkness. He was covered in darkness.

Suddenly, while still covered in darkness, Naruto felt as if he was lying on something hard.

'A floor?'

Then there were the sounds of footsteps, the sound of people mumbling, and warmth hitting his face. E slowly opened his eyes to see sunlight streaming through some nearby windows. Naruto thought that maybe he fell onto his floor because of his dream, and that now it was morning.

'Where's the alarm?' Naruto thought wearily as he turned his body on the hard floor, 'I think we don't have training so early in the…' Naruto suddenly snapped open his eyes upon hearing an unfamiliar voice, only to find himself not where he was supposed to be.

"Listen up!"

Naruto quickly got to his feet; the boy was still in his pyjamas and walrus cap, when he came face to face with rows of unfamiliar looking children in a classroom. It looked as if he was in one of the Academy which was impossible since he graduated more than six months ago, 'and because I'm in my apartment sleeping.' However, he noticed that they were not looking at him; instead they were looking to his left.

'Is this a dream?' he thought to himself before hearing the same voice from his left.

"We have a new student from Uzushiogaruke." Naruto turned to find an Academy teacher he didn't recognize with his hand on the shoulder of a red-haired girl.

'She's about my age… or maybe a bit younger,' Naruto thought as he cautiously walked closer before asking the teacher who he was. When Naruto didn't get an answer, he then looked at the other students, his eyes skimming over a young blonde sitting in the corner, before staring at the other students. With a frown on his face at the thought of not recognising anyone in the classroom, Naruto turned back towards the teacher and then at the female student.

"Hey, Sensei, who are you? Where am I?"

However, once again the Sensei didn't answer him. In fact, it seemed as if no one knew he was there.

"It's okay, just introduce yourself," the Sensei gently whispered to the girl while Naruto looked on as he walked closer to her.

As he stood in front of the girl, his eyes locked onto hers, she said, "My name is Uzumaki Kushina," A stunned Naruto who took a few steps back in surprise. He had thought he was the only Uzumaki in Konoha, and now here was a girl… a stranger he had never met claiming to be an Uzumaki.

'There was no Kushina in our graduating class, and…'

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by heckling from several boys in the back who yelled out, "tomato… look at her, her hair is red and she has a round face, like a tomato!"

Naruto turned to glare at the boys before turning back towards the girl whose face was red in anger and her hands were rolled into fists. He watched her lean forward and yell out… as if she didn't even know he was standing right in front of her, "I am not a tomato. I'm going to be Konoha's first female Hokage." Naruto widened his eyes as the girl slowly grinned at the rows of students while pointing to herself, "remember my name, Uzumaki Kushina, Konoha's future female Hokage!"

TBC.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sakura.**

Sakura never imagined that this is what she would have become; a murderer of her own teammate and someone who aided and abetted a nin who betrayed the village. Ever since she was a little girl, Sakura had wanted to be a good Kunoichi; someone others would look up to as someone to strive towards. She wanted to have her own Genin team, she wanted to eventually marry a good man – in her mind that good man was supposed to be Sasuke.

And then, in the space of a night, things went to hell.

" _And now Sasuke is in the wind, Haruno,"_ Sakura closed her eyes as she sat on the cot set against the far edge of the cell. It was only a few minutes ago that Gai and two guards opened the heavy doors to one of the cells. The guards were looking stunned that someone as young as her was being locked up in the Hokage Cells as she and Gai walked past them and through the cell entrance. At least that is what Sakura thought, some of them were giving her strange looks as well. There were no windows along the walls of the cells – instead the walls were covered in invisible seals that, as told by Gai, would nullify the chakra of prisoners. The cell was only lit by a small bulb at the far corner, and the thick metallic door had a small window that allowed someone from the outside hallway to look into the room.

Sakura didn't even answer Gai's pained question of "why?" as she walked on trembling legs towards the cot.

What could she say? Sakura had no idea what to say other than she really did do the deed. She stopped just before reaching the edge of the cot, she could feel Gai's eyes boring through the back of her skull. Her shoulders were hunched over as if she was weighed down by her immense feelings of guilt. When Gai asked again, "why?" Sakura couldn't answer. After all, what else could she say that did not make her look and sound deranged.

" _Because you are deranged, Haruno!" '_ Naruto' was laughing out to her left as he slapped his knees with his hands.

Sakura didn't answer Gai. She had a pained expression on her face…. A true pained expression as her mind went back to the blood soaked sheets in Naruto's room while she slowly turned around and then sat down on the cot; her face staring at the grey coloured floor. Her eyes unable to look up at the Jonin sensei.

There was an uncomfortable quiet for a few seconds before she did glance up at Gai; and she wished she hadn't. There was a look of disappointment on his face that was mixed with anger. Anger… Sakura never thought that Gai would even have that emotion. But here he was… angry at her.

Sakura just shook her head before whispering, "I loved him." That was a stupid answer, Sakura thought to herself. But then again, it was the truth. It was the sad truth. And her heart ached.

" _You killed me because you loved him, congrats Haruno!" '_ Naruto' giggled while leaning against the wall to her right. Ata the same time, Gai shook his head, his face now showing pity before he turned around and walked out through the heavy doors. And then, the door was closed shut with a clang… followed by the unmistakable sound of the locks engaging. Alone in the cell, Sakura hugged her knees closer to her body and closed her eyes as her mental version of Naruto was pacing with his hands over his head – the word 'guilt' etched across his forehead in bright red blood. She could hear his footsteps walking about the room while her own Inner was quiet.

'Naruto's' footsteps stopped before he spoke again, " _so Haruno, tell me how's the dream of marrying a traitor going? Making some headway?"_

Sakura shook her head and, while her eyes were still closed, she lay her chin on her knees. She could feel tears falling down her cheeks as she recalled Kakashi's eye glaring back at her in her room when his arm was pressed against her neck.

" _He was about to kill you,"_ 'Naruto' crowed out before he laughed, _"oh, that would have been so funny!"_

Yes, Sakura could see it in Kakashi's uncovered eye that he would have no qualms about killing her. She could still feel the man's arm against her neck. She was aware that it would have taken the tiniest jerk for him to have broken it. She was certain that a team would be sent to retrieve Sasuke… but Sakura still didn't know what she wanted to happen to Sasuke; she didn't know if she wanted Sasuke caught, killed, or that he would escape the forces of Konoha. All she knew was that she was angry at him and herself; she was angry at him for leaving her behind, and angry at herself for following his order to kill Naruto without question.

'This was never supposed to happen,' Sakura thought to herself as 'Naruto' started to laugh into her ear, 'this was never how it was supposed to be.' It was then that she felt something on her neck… it was slimy and warm. Her bottom lip quivered as she tentatively brought her left hand to her neck... her heart racing as she touched the wetness on her neck. She then brough her hand to in front of her face. Her fingers were covered in blood, 'when Kakashi-sensei nearly strangled me. This is…' It was Naruto's blood.

Naruto's blood. That was what Sakura was thinking as she dropped the bloody hand on the bed. All she could do now was scream in anguish before sobbing.

 **Naruto**

"Uzumaki Kushina, 'ttebayo?" Naruto exclaimed while he stepped back in surprise as the girl glared at the class. Naruto could see that she was scanning the seats behind him before the unknown Sensei patted her left shoulder and told her to take a seat. Kushina then nodded her head before she walked right through Naruto's body… the blonde Genin found it a bit weird to have someone literally walk right through him… but he turned around as she walked up the stairs to the empty space at the back. The girl passed by a blonde boy who Naruto found to be very familiar but he could not put a finger on his identity… instead he his eyes were refocused on the Uzumaki girl.

'How can there be another Uzumaki here and I not know about it,' Naruto thought to himself as he walked up to the steps of the stairs that led to the seat and table where the girl calling herself Kushina sat down. 'Jiji would have told me..' he thought to himself as his mind went back to the Sandaime who told him that his parents died during the war and that he had no other family, 'but here is an Uzumaki, 'ttebayo.' Naruto was confused as his mind went to thinking, 'wait a minute, how am I even seeing this? How am I seeing this girl? This room? All these people.'

"Tomato! Tomato!"

Naruto was pulled out if his thoughts when the yells from a boy… actually a group of boys and girls… around Kushina where pointing at her and calling her names. Naruto looked back to the Sensei not being in the class before there was the sound of a thud. Naruto spun his head back towards Kushina who was on the floor after being pulled by her hair. A boy… someone he didn't know… was pulling her hair as she lay struggling on the wooden floor while some others were laughing and yelling out, "tomato! She looks like a tomato!"

"Hey!" Naruto yelled out before he rushed up the first few steps when he suddenly felt a chill in the air. He stopped… a chill running up and down his spine when he noticed the girl glaring at the boy who was pulling her hair. He watched as the girl, Kushina, grasped his hand, flipped him onto the floor – an action that forced him to let go of his hair – before standing over and pummelling him with her fists. Naruto was terrified as Kushina's hair was jumping in all directions while she beat the student who was once pulling her hair while the others around them were panicking at the sight.

"I hate tomatoes too!" Kushina spat before she stepped back from the boy who was cowering on the floor of the classroom; her hands were slightly bloody and rolled into fists. The girl then started to look around at the other students who were still seated before she fixed her gaze to the blonde boy from earlier – the one who looked so familiar to Naruto.

'Who is he?' Naruto thought.

She then growled while raising her fist at the spiky haired blonde boy looking at her with a mixture of awe and fear, "you have something you want to say!?" Naruto watched the boy shake his head sheepishly before turning around and then taking a seat. Kushina looked away from him before taking her own seat, but not before Naruto noticed the blonde boy looking over his shoulder with awe at Kushina when the latter was looking away.

There was a look on his face that Naruto couldn't not put his finger on before everything seemed to melt around him. Covered in darkness for a few seconds, Naruto had a look of concern on his face as the darkness gave way to a bright sunny day under flowering trees. He saw Kushina walking along the pavement with her hands in her trousers. He was fascinated by this girl; Naruto couldn't understand why, but they was something about her that he felt was pulling him towards her.

'She is pretty, 'ttebayo,' Naruto scratched the back of his head as Kushina walked past, 'she is as scary as Sakura-chan too.' And that was true, watching Kushina beat up that boy who pulled her hair was frightening, 'maybe she left Konoha? Maybe she doesn't know there's another Uzumaki who's alive?' Naruto walked alongside her, his gaze on her profile while asking, "who are you, ttebayo? I mean who are you to me? Why am I dreaming… is this a dream? Then why are you in my dream, and… why are you so detailed, 'ttebayo?"

"This is the girl, brother!" Naruto and Kushina stopped as two boys – the younger bruised one was the boy who Kushina beat up in the classroom only hours ago, and the older one had a Konoha forehead protector; the latter glaring at Kushina as he walked out from behind a tree, "this is the girl who beat me up!"

"Get away from her, 'ttebayo!" Naruto said as he took several steps in front of Kushina and raised his fist at them.

"So you're the one who made my little brother cry," the older boy said with a smirk on his face as he walked through Naruto. The latter stumbled sideways before he turned around to watch as Kushina glowered while stepping back.

"That's cause he made fun of my hair, 'ttebane!"

"'ttebane?" Naruto whispered as he stared at Kushina. Now that he thought about it, this wasn't the first time she had said "'ttebane"… she said it back in the classroom. It's just that he was so surprised at there being another Uzumaki that he didn't think much about it. But she said it… it was so clear… "'ttebane? Dattebane? It's like when I say 'ttebayo… are… are you my sister or a cousin…" Naruto shook his head as the older boy said that he had to teach bullies who hurt his brother a lesson.

'Jiji would have told me if I had a sister so… are you a cousin? Or… or anyone close to my mother and father?'

Suddenly, the older boy attacked Kushina. Naruto growled before he leapt towards the older boy while Kushina leapt towards a tree. He was going on instinct… his thought was to distract the boy from Kushina… he was going to be the target instead. However, Naruto went through the boy, much to his anger, before landing on his feet. He spun around to watch the boy throw a kunai at Kushina.

As the kunai darted past Kushina and stuck itself into the trunk of a tree with a "thuck" sound, both Kushina and Naruto thought to themselves, 'That's a real kunai!' The latter leapt after the older boy while the younger one followed close by just before Kushina landed on a trunk and then kicked herself off it towards the older boy who was already jumping in mid-air before slamming her arm into his throat.

"Yessssss!" Naruto yelled before landing onto the ground while the younger boy called out toward his groaning brother rolling on the leaf strewn ground. However the older boy's body vanished in a puff of smoke.

'A Kage bushin!' Naruto thought before the older boy attacked Kushina behind.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled despite knowing by now that no one could heard him. He stood helplessly as the older boy attacked Kushina viciously while grabbing onto her red hair and pulling her panting body up from the ground. "Get away from her!" Naruto yelled before Kushina yelled out that she hated her red hair. She then jerked forward… tufts of her hair remained in the hand of the surprised older boy. He was so caught up in the strands of hair in his hands that he never saw Kushina, in her anger, turning around and then punching him. As he stumbled back from the impact, he dropped the strands of hair to the ground just before Kushina hammered the side of his head with the back of her foot. The older boy fell to the ground in pain… with Kushina continuing to beat the older boy… while the younger boy ran away screaming about the Red Hot Habanero who was beating up his older brother.

Naruto saw him run away into the distance before he turned to the sound of panting as Kushina stood over the bruised older boy.

"Outsider!" the older boy yelled out as Kushina stepped back, her hands rolled into fists, before getting up to his trembling legs. The older boy glared a Kushina before he turned and ran away.

Naruto waved his fist at the retreating back of the older boy before he yelled out, "yea run! Never mess with Uzumaki's, 'ttebayo!"

"So you won't help me because I'm an outsider?!"

Naruto heard the anger and hurt in her voice before he turned. He was about to say that he did try to help her but nothing he did seemed to help in any way, 'and how could you see me now!' By the time he turned, and before he could say anything, Naruto saw that Kushina wasn't talking to him; she was staring at the same blonde boy from the classroom. He was now standing on top on a tree branch with a small shy smile on his face.

"He looks so familiar," Naruto said scratching the back of his head, "I know I should know him… but how? Who is he?"

Before the boy could answer, Kushina turned and ran away. She ran through Naruto's body who turned around and stared at her. A scowl on his face, Naruto turned around and stared at the blonde boy standing on the branch staring at Kushina.

"Hey! Why didn't you do anything, 'ttebayo!" Naruto yelled out.

"You looked like you had things under control," the blond boy whispered at Kushina before he shunshined away, leaving a surprised Naruto standing alone on the pathway.

Just as, in the real world, Tsunade started operating on Naruto by infusing more chakra into his body through tags, images of the lives of both Kushina and the unknown blonde boy flowed past Naruto's eyes. Not that Naruto knew what was going on in the real world, he still thought this was a strange dream. It was a dream about Kushina as she went about her daily life and a dream about the boy, Namikaze Minato – he swore he heard the name somewhere before – as he went through his day.

'Why these two people?' Naruto thought as he watched Kushina and Minato walk past each other with only nods. However, it was Minato who turned after she passed him… Naruto watched the shy boy form a smile on his lips before he turned and walked away.

More images rushed past Naruto before he found himself standing beneath the night sky next to the blonde boy from earlier. They were standing among several other shinobi and kunoichi before the Sandaime himself appeared on a dais.

"Jiji," Naruto whispered in awe at seeing once again one of the first people who saw him as a person – the Sandaime. Before Naruto could say anything, the Sandaime spoke with his usual voice of authority. And Naruto listened as the others around him stiffened.

"A group of shinobi from Kumogakure infiltrated the village and kidnapped Uzumaki Kushina!" Naruto stiffened at hearing this, as did the blonde boy standing next to him, "from what T&I have been able to gather from their collaborators within the village, they targeted the girl because of her lineage… she is a great-niece to the wife of Konoha's founder, Uzumaki Mito."

"What?" Naruto whispered before thinking to himself, 'the Shodai's wife was an Uzumaki?' Naruto stared down at the ground while thinking to himself how it was that he did not know about Uzumaki Mito. Looking back up with a questioning look at the Sandaime, 'why didn't you tell me, Jiji?' Naruto listened as the Sandaime continued.

"She is a citizen of this village," the Hokage said in a stern voice, "and we will not let another village take her away from us. Find her!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Disperse!"

Naruto stood alone after the entire group and the Sandaime rushed away. Naruto's mind was filled with so many questions now; there were two other Uzumaki in the village, he wasn't the only one. 'But why haven't I been told about Mito and Kushina-chan?' As he stood on the roof in silence, Naruto wondered if the other teachers had mentioned Mito's name but he wasn't paying attention.

'Possibly, 'ttebayo,' Naruto thought to himself before wondering if Mito had already passed away, 'and if she did, then where is Kushina-chan? Am I really the only Uzumaki left in Konoha?' Naruto thought to himself with a pained expression on his face, 'Are there any other Uzumaki?' Before anymore thoughts could form, Naruto found himself standing underneath the trees facing three nin with the forehead protectors of those from Kumogakure.

"You!" Naruto exclaimed while pointed at them as they walked towards him, "let her go!" They had an exhausted Kushina tied to a rope, the ones in front were pulling her along – Kushina was covered in sweat and grime as she trudged behind them while the other two Kumo nin where behind her. Naruto stood helplessly as one of the Kumo nin looked over his shoulders at Kushina and said that they were almost at the border and that she would belong to Kumo then. It was now that Naruto noticed something off about Kushina, 'she doesn't look like the Kushina I just saw...' Naruto leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as Kushina was dragged closer and closer, 'actually, she looks a bit older...' Naruto continued to stare at Kushina in confusion while wondering about the age descrepency. It was then he remembered that even the blonde boy from a second ago looked as if he was slightly older than the one who did not help Kushina on the pathway under the trees. While Naruto was thinking about why the two of them had gotten slightly older, he thought he heard a sigh and a soft chuckle in the distance. Naruto turned around... he thought he recognized the chuckle in the back of his mind but he couldn't hold onto any particular thought; it was as if a memory was in his grasp before slipping away.

"Hello?" he cried out, "who are you, 'ttebayo? This is my dream so how are you... whoever you are... here, in my dream?!" As he concentrated so as to hear that sigh and chuckle again, Naruto missed the shadow behind him that was zipping from one tree to the next.

It would be a moment later, a few seconds after the Kumo nin looked back towards the front with a grin on his face that a shadow darted from behind and took down one shinobi with a thud. At the sound of the thus, Naruto turned and stared in surprise as the shadow took down another shinobi, and then another one, and then another one. Kushina was looking at the ground the whole time, her face showing how exhausted she was, when the last Kumo nin fell at the hands of the familiar blonde who stood in front of Kushina. Once she sensed no one was around, Naruto saw her looking up with tired eyes.

"I'm here to save you," the blonde said as Naruto watched him rush towards Kushina just as she started to fall forward towards the ground in exhaustion. "I got you," he whispered as Naruto looked on.

"I thought you didn't care about me…. You never showed that…"

"I didn't interfere in any of your fights..." Naruto listened, "because I know you're strong."

Naruto watched the blonde smile before picking up a surprised Kushina in his arms. Kushina then asked, "how did you find me?" Naruto saw the blond boy look one at one of his hands. Naruto and Kushina looked down as well and the two immediately saw the strands of red hair in the young blonde boy's hand. Naruto looked back to where Kushina was being dragged by the Kumo-nin and could barely see strands of red hair on the ground behind her. Naruto smiled, "you left anyone coming after you a clue to find you! Good work, 'ttebayo!" He then looked back towards Kushina who said that she pulled out her hair hoping that someone would find her.

"I recognized it as your hair when I saw the first strand," the blonde boy said as Kushina widened her eyes when he said that he liked her hair, "so I followed it and found you." Naruto saw Kushina blush before the blonde boy leapt away with the redhead in his arms.

"Hey wait!" Naruto yelled as at the blonde boy leapt up towards another tree, "who are you?" Before Naruto could leap to another branch after the two of them, he saw more images pass his eyes. He saw Kushina and the blonde boy become close, eventually the two of them would hold hands as then walked through the village. He watched as they grew a year older with each celebrating the other's birthday. Naruto learned from these visions that the boy was Namikaze Minato – that name was so familiar to him – and that he was an orphan. Naruto learned that Kushina was from Uzushiogakure, the home of the Uzumaki Clan – much to Naruto's amazement.

"There's an Uzumaki clan?" he asked, "what the hell, 'ttebayo!" Then more images passed his eyes and the more Naruto found out about the two of them; first, they were nearly inseparable now… even two years later; then Naruto discovered that Minato was trying to revive a jutsu that was used by the Niidaime Hokage – Naruto didn't think of anything of it at first, and that Kushina loved playing around with seals. Naruto saw how excited Minato was when Kushina mentioned that she was interested in seals.

"I'll help you," Kushina said with a blush on her face. Naruto couldn't help but smile as Minato nodded his head excitedly.

'Maybe I could get Sakura-chan excited about going for a date when I wake up,' Naruto thought to himself with hope etched on his face. Suddenly, Naruto found himself surrounded by darkness before there was a bright flash of light. Naruto had to blink his eyes several times to clear the spots in his vision due to the sudden flash while distant voices slowly started moving closer and closer to him. There were blurry shapes around him, and the more he blinked the more those shapes came into focus until Naruto could see that he was in the Sandaime's office with Kushina to his left.

"Kushina-chan," the Sandaime spoke with kind eyes looking at a fidgeting Kushina who had her hands clasped together while twiddling her thumbs. As Naruto stared at Kushina, he noticed that she was young... younger than how he had seen her when she was rescued by Minato. In fact, Kushina looked to be about the same age as when she was ambushed in the park and fought back the bullies under the row of trees. More and more questions formed in his head about the girl and the spattering of this dream he found himself trapped in as he listened to the Sandaime, "I heard what happened in the classroom and in the park." Naruto then looked over to the Sandaime who leaned forward on his chair and put down his pipe, "what do you have to say for yourself, Kushina-chan?"

"They... they were making fun of my hair and...," Kushina said as she stared at the old man, "and... and..." She then shook her head before leaning forward and saying, "I admit I lost my temper in the class, Hokage-sama... I mean I just arrived today and then... and then they started calling me a tomato and so I beat the idiot a little bit." The Hokage sighed, the smile turning to a small frown after Kushina said that, "I have a short temper, but it's only for those who make fun of me and..." Kushina sighed again before looking away, "I'll try to be better, Hokage-sama."

"And the incident at the park?"

"I was ambused by that boy and his brother," the girl exclaimed as she turned her head back towards the Hokage with her eyes narrowed. Naruto could see the girl pout slightly before saying, "I was defending myself when the two of them attacked me."

"The brother claims that you were the one who attacked first."

"That's not true, Jiji!" Naruto yelled out at the same time as Kushina who cried out, "they lied, Hokage-sama!"

Kushina then told the Hokage what happened and the latter's eyes went wide in surprise when she said that the older brother had used real kunai to attack her. By the time she was done, Naruto was staring at Kushina proudly while the latter was panting. As for the Hokage, he listened very closely while his amrs rested on his desk. It was here that Naruto felt as if there was someone watching him. He spun around and yelled out, "HEY! WHO'S THERE?" Naruto looked around, but there was no other person he could see other than the Sandaime and Kushina... however, he did feel a sense of warmth going through his body as if he was being held tight by someone invisible. It was an odd sensation, but he didn't sense any danger. And just as quicly as it appeared, teh feeling was soon gone and NAruto felt as if he was missing something from the depts of his heart. He simply could not explain it.. nor could he explain this dream he found himself in. Turning back towards the Sandaime and Kushina, Naruto heard the former agreeing with Kushina before saying that the two of them would be punished.

"But you must keep yourself in check, Kushina," the Hokage said, his face suddenly losing the smile. Instead, Naruto noticed a look that he had seen before... a look of sorrow. A look of pity. A look of guilt. Profound guilt. yes, Naruto was certain he had seen that look before on the Sandaime's face. And Naruto's heart raced as the Sandaime began speaking once again.

"Kushina-chan," the Sandaime said as Kushina nodded her head. She and Naruto saw the old man look away for a second before turning back towards Kushina once again, "do you know why you were sent to Konoha?"

"I… I know I have an unique chakra, unique even among the Uzumaki," Kushina said shyly to Naruto's surprise, "that's what the Head told me."

"Adamantine chakra chains," the Sandaime said nodding his head, "only a handful of Uzumaki have this ability."

"Chakra Chains? What's that?" Naruto asked. But there was no answer forthcoming from the two. So Naruto shrugged his shoulders before saying, "I'll ask Tsunade-baachan or Kakashi-sensei."

"It's because of that ability that you were selected to bear a great burden," the Sandaime said as Kushina looked on confused and Narutos's eyes went wide open in shock. 'No,' NAruto thought, 'Jiji, you can't mean...' He had a bad feeling of what was about to happen. And that was because Naruto continued to recall seeing that look in the Sandaime's face before… whenever the latter would come by his small apartment to give him money or gifts at random times.

'Jiji knew I have the Kyuubi locked inside me,' Naruto thought as the Sandaime continued to speak to Kushina.

"You will be the successor to Uzumaki Mito," the Sandaime said with a voice full of regret and pity while Naruto shook his head, "Uzumaki Kushina, you were selected to be the Kyuubi's next Jinchuriki."

"No!" Naruto yelled out with his eyes open in shock. He then looked at Kushina whose eyes were wide open with fear etched on her face. Naruto then turned back to the Sandaime once again, "no, Jiji! You can't do this, 'ttebayo! NO!"

TBC


End file.
